Fallen Star
by Elfsire
Summary: A fallen angel falls into the beginning of the war of the vampires and the lycans. She watches it start, and sees it finish. And she even managed to alter the course of the war in her own small way, by saving the life of the man she comes to love. LucianO
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I only own my original characters in this, although I would love to own Underworld, and the characters I don't.

**Important Note: **This story will be slightly AU. It will also be a LucianOC romance. So if you don't like it, don't read it. But please do not flame me complaining when I have clearly warned you NOW!!

Many thanks

Elfsire

**Prologue – 1201 A.D. Before the war**

The woman looked around her, confused. Where was she? This was not the place she was supposed to be. Tired, disorientated, she stumbled slowly through the woods. Her feet seemed to find every small twig or rock that littered her path. Eventually, her legs could no longer support her bruised body, and when she stumbled she fell to the floor, panting heavily.

The moon rose in the sky, a bright beacon, illuminating the forest with its silvery glow. In a few days it would be a full moon, at least seven days, but the woman hoped she would be safe by then. She had no desire to stumble across a rogue lycan encampment; she would be torn to pieces in a moment.

Looking up around the woman noticed she was not alone. A large hound looked at her quizzically, almost wondering if she were prey or not. It had a large collar around its neck; its master would be somewhere. Although that thought did not comfort the lonely soul, it worried her more. She did not want to be discovered. Almost sensing her thoughts the hound turned tail and ran.

The woman felt panic surge through her veins. If she were to be found and discovered, she would be killed on sight for what she was. 'Damn it' her mind screamed, 'why so soon, why now?' She hauled her protesting body up with the aid of a strong tree and leaned against it, 'I can't run I'm dead' she thought suddenly.

As she took a slight hobbling step forward she realised that her time to escape had run out. A horse's stamp alerted her to the fact that a few of her would be pursuers were on horseback. A quick scan showed she was surrounded completely. Desperate, realising the futility of her situation she pulled her teeth back and snarled. An armoured figure held up a hand as one figure reached for a whip.

The same armoured figure then dismounted fluidly, and walked towards the woman, one hand at her side out of reach of her weapon, the other held out in front of her placating. The woman couldn't help herself; she looked puzzled at the outstretched hand. When she realised that she was meant no harm a wave of relief washed over her. They obviously had no idea of who she was, what she was...yet.

"What is your name sister?" a female voice enquired from within the armour.

"I can't remember," the words fell thick and heavy, pouring from her mouth, slurring in her pain and exhaustion.

"It is alright, none here are going to hurt you," the voice soothed, the hand reaching out to touch her.

The woman nodded, satisfied now. She could sense the figures now, the ones on horses were vampires, and the majority of those on foot were lycans. However there were a few, like the one who had reached for his whips, who were vampire. They must think she was a vampire then! So be it. To keep them from the truth she would maintain this charade. Again she nodded, before her body collapsed beneath her, and she descended into darkness.

Sleep let her go slowly, unwilling to loosen its grip on her too quickly. She felt that she was warm and comfortable, in a soft bed, with fine linen sheets that rubbed against her skin when she moved. She must have been taken there; she would never have managed to walk there in her exhausted state. Now she felt slightly better.

Opening her eyes slowly she observed she was not alone in the room. A middle aged woman was watching over her. Seeing her ward's eyes open, she stood and nodded, before moving out of the room. As she left, beneath her thin sleeve the invalid caught sight of a brand. 'So, the vampires still practise slavery' the woman thought. A strange and barbaric custom to her. She shook her head, and regretted it, as bile rose in her throat.

Cool metal was placed against her lips, and warm liquid trickled down her throat. The woman instinctively swallowed and began to drink. The metallic tang hit her strongly, making her pause in her drinking for a moment. She was drinking blood! Had she really fallen so far, that she was reduced to drinking blood and keeping up a charade to live? The woman forced herself to drink as she realised that brutality would be necessary.

As the pewter goblet was removed from her lips she saw a wizened old face, scrutinising her closely, for any sign of movement. The woman in bed licked her lips and teeth fastidiously, ridding herself of any remains of her gory meal, before smiling her thanks. This earned a hiss from the younger woman, a frown and a shaken head from the older.

"Lady Morganna should not smile at me," the older woman shook her head again.

"Who is this Lady Morganna?" the woman asked.

"You were named whilst you slept by the lady Ilona, who found you," the younger woman explained.

"Oh, thank you for looking after me," Morganna said, after a pause.

"They say you are ill, Sarah heals you, nothing else to it," the older woman muttered.

"We must go now, Sarah, the lady needs her rest," the younger woman chided.

"Yes, she will meet with Lord Viktor soon enough," the older woman cackled as she was led out.

Morganna wondered as she lay back against the sheets. Morganna, yes she liked the name. It seemed to suit her well, it fitted like a glove. She knew that names were important. If you no longer had a name you were forgotten about and faded away. She had not wanted that to happen to her, which is where all her troubles began. Perhaps it would be better if she had been forgotten; she would not now be on the precarious knife edge of her new life.

A sharp knock on the door awoke her. She saw the moon shining through the now open shutters, and it fell like a knife blade through the arrow slits. A vampire stormed in, and demanded that she array herself, and that she would be taken to Lord Viktor when she was ready. She nodded and told him to leave, after accepting the parcel of clothes he carried.

It consisted of a black corset that laced up the front and left some of her pale creamy skin in plain view. To go with it was a simple black skirt. From the back came a triangle of brocade, which broadened out to a fishtail at the base. Around the top was trimmed with gold and fell to a v underneath her belly button. The centre of the trim was highlighted with a simple red ruby surrounded by gold.

To finish she simply pulled her hair back into a large bun at the back of her head. Her hand ran over the pendant she had obviously been allowed to keep. Tears flew to her eyes when she remembered how she got it but she thrust them away. It was a simple profile of an angel, with wings that hung useless.

Finally ready Morganna opened the door and turned to the vampire. She nodded curtly, sensing that she would need something more than kindness if she were going to survive in this midnight world. The vampire sneered at her, but she snarled, and a flicker of fear passed over the vampire's face. He led the way confidently. Morganna wondered if he really trusted her with his back, 'I wouldn't if I were him' she thought with a grim smile.

She was admitted to a long hall. She walked easily down it, to the large table at the end, which was obviously meant to be filled with vampire nobles. However, now it was eerily empty but for a single lord, who was sitting in a high backed throne. There were no other witnesses. Morganna guessed this tactic was meant to scare her, and still she walked with her head high, pretending not to be afraid.

"Lord Viktor," Morganna bowed slightly, being unable to curtsy due to her skirt.

"Morganna," Viktor nodded.

"I take it this isn't a pleasure visit?" She asked pleasantly, making Viktor draw a breath at her impertinence.

"There is the small matter of your future here in the coven to discuss," his voice was clipped, showing his discomfort.

"Certainly," she seemed to have realised that it was wiser to hold her tongue.

"There are two positions here for you..." Viktor began, "My high table is lacking a noble," he indicated a seat close to him.

"Or..." Morganna began.

"Soren is in desperate need of another slave master to help him," Viktor tried to read her inscrutable face.

Morganna's thoughts were racing around her head. 'He would make me a lady, and I would be powerful, with so many at my command.' But then the picture flew unbidden to her mind of the two lycan slaves who had tended her to her mind. They had looked starved and afraid, and unused to even the few crumbs of gratitude and kindness she had been able to throw them. She had made her choice without even knowing it. She would help them in any way she could.

"I will be the slave master," Morganna's voice rang out among the halls.

"So be it," Viktor nodded before calling for a servant, "Tell Soren he is to escort his new working companion around, once she has changed."

She bowed gracefully before she left. She was led again to the room she had stayed in, that she assumed would be given to her. More clothes had been laid out on the bed, and the younger lycan woman was there to help assist her out of her clothes and into a new set.

This one she infinitely preferred. It allowed her more freedom of movement. The top was of red leather, without any sleeves, and a lace up front. Around the bottom of her arms went studded leather bracers. Her trousers were simply dyed black deerskin. For her feet were a pair of leather boots that had a slight heel. Finally there was a weapons belt that secured around her waist.

She was glad she was assisted by the lycan woman, for Soren was impatient, and was soon there. Morganna left her hair how it was, she would have no time to change it. When she opened the door Soren calculated her, her height, weight, the way she was dressed, and even her silver pendant.

"You should take it off, the lycans will try stealing it," he indicated the amulet.

"It is pure silver, and none will try and take it," Morganna challenged.

"You have not worked with them for as long as I have," Soren answered her curt remark.

"Perhaps new blood is needed," she smiled coyly testing him.

The tour was brief but informative. Soren told her that the younger lycan woman, Klara, would be her personal servant, and would also be her responsibility, as would the other lycans under her care. She was shown around the servant's quarters, meagre things in her opinion. Then she was taken to the armoury. She had a whip thrust upon her.

"The mark of a slave master, take anything else you want," he commanded.

While Soren was watching her impatiently, Morganna slowly made her way along, testing each weapon for its feel and weight in her hand. Finally she selected a simple long sword. She tried a few practice swings and realised how perfect the weapon was for her. It was as if the weapon was made for her. She sheathed it and walked out of the door before Soren, a fact which would gall him.

Morganna soon fell into the pattern of her new life. She would wake up at dusk, and go to see that the daylight guards were replaced promptly. She counted each of the lycans on and off, to make sure that none of them had run off during the day. She never doubted that any would, she had faith in them.

Her next task would be to oversee the feeding of her lycans. In the beginning she did this with great trepidation, not knowing what was expected of her. She was glad to see that the lycans had already had this very much sorted out, and there was none of the bullying or fighting over scraps of meat that she had seen before. In fact it was all rather civilised.

Morganna had made changes that were popular with the lycans, but not perhaps with Soren. Firstly she increased the amounts of food they were given, she argued that starved workers would not work properly or to their best degree. This was proved when her lycans were put to their tasks they completed them with good grace. She often gave extra rations to some, especially if they had done something worthy of praise, or had been out on the gates all day.

Klara became Morganna's almost constant companion. She was a fount of knowledge on what it meant to be lycan, and told her mistress many interesting things about her brethren. She also knew many of their names, and Morganna strived to find out what most of the lycans in her care were called, so she would be able to address them as equals. This helped reinforce their respect and Soren's hatred for her. Eventually they accepted her, and tolerated her; some even began to respect and love her. She no longer had to see starved lycan children stare up at her; even if they were too young to work she would see that they were provided for.

However Soren seemed not to share any of her ideas. He thought that the only way to subject lycans and make them work was to treat them like dogs. All lycans lived in fear of the twin whips that Soren carried around with him. And since Morganna had began her work his beatings seemed to become more frequent and damaging. Many of those in his care died quickly after being placed as such. Many saw it as an unjust punishment to be sent to the uncaring embrace of the twined leather straps. Morganna vowed early on that she would talk to Soren about this.

However, all rational thoughts flew from her brain when she interrupted on him punishing her maid.

Klara had been pushed by Soren, and had dropped some item, and it had broken. Soren had started to shout and reached for his rarely used silver whips. Using her unnoticed advantage she drew her own whip quicker than he could his own. With a deft flick of her wrist she drew a sharp line down his cheek. He turned, shocked, to see Morganna standing, her usually coiled whip held loosely in her hand.

"Why attack her with silver? It was a small item nothing that can not be replaced."

"Any item that belongs to a vampire is worth more than a lycan's life." He sneered.

"Does that include the lycan slaves?" she replied a smile crossing her lips.

The next thing she knew she was sent slamming into a wall. She felt a sharp pain run through her back and heard in the distance Klara's shocked cries. Her head swam and lights danced at the corner of her vision. As it cleared she saw a fearsome sight, a mad vampire with glowing bright eyes and elongated canines.

She curled onto the floor in a foetal position covering her head hoping that he would fall for her ruse. As she planned he kicked her in the stomach, curling her legs up in pain she wrapped her hands around his legs and then pushed her legs up to wrap around his hips. She rolled backwards with him and helped use his own momentum to pull him down, while stunned and speechless Soren was not a danger but she planted her elbow in his sternum for good measure. Klara had gone for help and quickly rounded the corner with two strong lycans and their vampire masters.

"This is only the start he will not be content until he has killed you."

Author's note: here we go the first chapter. By the way, I'm going from the book Blood Enemy for all my pre-war information. It is actually a book about the pre-war Underworld, and is a good book to read. I hope you all like it.

For all of you who are reading this again, this version is revised and edited. I decided, with some help from Lilitha star (who I adore!!!!) that this was long overdue a re-write. Voila, we now have a newer account of Morganna's goings on. Hope you all enjoyed.

Many thanks again to Lilitha star. I would recommend you read her stories as well if you have the time. They are well worth it, anyways bye for now!!

Elfy


	2. Chapter 1

WhiteAngel78: I am sorry that you did not think there was very much. Hopefully this will be a little more to you liking, length-wise. A writer is always pleased to hear that their writing is appreciated, so thanks you, and I hope you keep enjoying.

Raging Raven: I am glad you liked the story so far. Here is more for you.

Chapter 1 – 2002 A.D.

Hundreds of years flew by in, what seemed to Morganna, a few scant seconds. She barely remembered her life, there was so little of it that had brought her happiness. She had changed; she was no longer the woman she had been at the vampire castle. She became cold and calculating, just to protect herself from the world around her.

The centuries moved on, and so did the times and expectations of women. There were times when to survive one had to be ruthless, and Morganna had been ruthless. She hardly thought about the people she had sometimes been forced to kill, to protect her secret from prying eyes.

It was a desperate struggle for survival. Travelling from country to country, all around the world more times than she could count on her hands, just to escape notice that she was an immortal that she never seemed to age, or die. She was scarcely ready to die; she had hidden all her tracks from the vampires and lycans.

She took to the sunlit streets once again. No longer was she a creature of the night. She resolved that never again would she be a creature of the night, the only solace that she could possibly find was away from that twilight world where the war still raged. She knew she had not left her feelings behind her, she carried them with her still, the ragged wound in her heart still pained her.

She had become involved in the hidden affair of Lucian and Sonja. She had not been there when the vampire princess was killed, and yet the shockwaves reverberated around the vampire community. Morganna had escaped the wrath of Viktor, only to run away and incur the wrath of the elders by allying with the lycans. She had shown her deepest secret to Lucian, the one that she had not wanted to tell anyone.

After the first disastrous fight, when Lucian's first lycan army was obliterated by Viktor, Morganna had left, running from her feelings. She had lost her pendant in the fight, the one thing that would have been a comfort to her broken and aching heart in those long lonely years. She had given her heart foolishly, and had not wanted to be reminded of it day after day in the company of Lucian.

So she had become a simple peasant girl working in the fields of Hungary. Then she had left the country for England. From there she had wandered all across the globe, from France to Africa, from India to Brazil, from Ireland to Australia. And always she was haunted by her memories and rumours of lycans and vampires.

Now she was back where it had begun all those years ago, Hungary. Morganna had no doubt that she could live a life of luxury if she wished, she was that rich. But a new rich woman would bring the attention of the vampires, and unwanted attentions would be brought against her. No doubt Viktor would recognise his former slave master. That would bring its own share of troubles.

Morganna's money was really hers, as much hers as it could be. She had joined in the spirit of the Industrial Revolution, and the new women who entered the scene, the woman who married for money. It had always happened, and yet now it was more popular. Once she had married one, rich, childless widow and he had passed on; she married another, her money being her ticket to high society.

But all that was gone now. Instead she had only bank accounts filled to the brim with money that she barely spent. She lived a careful life; she didn't want to attract attention to herself. So she had gone to work, just like every other ordinary person. She had become qualified as a scientist, and now worked in a small firm that specialised in paranormal work. It didn't pay well, but it was enough for her to live on, and save a little if she were careful. She had so much, and yet it hadn't ever made her happy.

She had pretended to be happy with the presents all the rich men had given her. It hadn't, she felt like a beautiful doll, all dressed up on their arms, just to impress their friends. Of course she had been charming; every man in the room would be envious and would be vying for her attention by the end of the evening.

She had always been careful to never reveal her body. Soren and her had been known to fight, it was expected of them, and yet one time Soren went too far, and almost killed Morganna. That was how she had met Lucian, he had saved her. Sometimes she almost thought it would have been better if Soren had killed her, then nothing would have happened to her.

She would still be charading as a vampire, after all these years. Perhaps she would have been forced to exterminate the lycans that were once her friends. Morganna knew that she never would have been able to do that, so perhaps everything had turned out for the better when she had run away. Her heart was healing slowly, ever so slowly, and she hoped in another century or so that she would be able to search for a love of her own.

This particular evening Morganna was tired. She was working late, trying to perfect the one thing she had been working on for a while. With the contacts in arms dealers and other such things, Morganna had heard that UV bullets had been designed to tackle the vampires. She knew this would provoke retaliation; at least it would if the lycans got their hands on it.

And the lycans most probably would. Morganna had heard of the new lycan leader, who was cunning, and was refining the lycans into a coherent fighting force. It sounded a lot like the plan Lucian had had all those years ago, before he had died. Morganna had a niggling doubt about that fact though, there was one vampire witness, and he was not to be wholly relied upon.

She smiled as she thought of Lucian, before she roughly shook herself. What was she doing, grinning like a school girl over a crush when there was work to be done? Thinking of attractions that were neither know about, nor acted upon brought a twisted smile to Morganna's lips. Had she herself not found herself falling deeply in love with the lycan leader?

That was the real reason that Morganna had run away. Her heart itself had turned traitor on her. It was also the reason that she did not wholly believe Lucian to be dead. She had come to know him better than that, and she doubted that he would die unless he was betrayed. There was nothing else for it, Lucian was alive and well, somewhere.

She tapped a glass tube, where a globule of metal was rapidly cooling after the heating treatment that Morganna had given it. She then held up another and smiled, satisfied with the result. She then walked across the lab in which she was working, to a fridge with blood samples. Taking out a sample of lycan blood she signed it out, before proceeding to another fridge, and taking out some liquid silver nitrate.

Placing the blood sample under the microscope she added a few drops of the silver nitrate, and watched the sample. The blood was rapidly dying off; the process of it being kept alive in the fridge was being undone in a few seconds. She then added a few drops of the liquid metal, and the effect was immediate. The blood cells seemed to regenerate at an inhuman rate, and the silver was pushed to one side of the slide.

Using a pipette Morganna took up the silver and deposited it in a Petri dish, ready for it to be collected and re-used, every small thing had to be accounted for, and if it could be, it would be recycled when finished with. Morganna nodded, satisfied, turned to the other test tubes of liquid metals.

She took a clipboard and scribbled the note: _by far the most successful of the liquid metals against the silver nitrate was the liquid iron; regeneration was rapid, perhaps helped by the presence of iron in the bloodstreams of all living animals. _Then she ripped off the page, and walked over to a rack of folders, and filed it away.

"You do know how hard it is to get fresh lycan blood," a male voice sounded, making Morganna jump.

"It's better when its fresh," Morganna commented.

"Morganna dear, if it were anyone else I would call it wasteful," the voice sounded almost seductive in its tone.

"I was doing something constructive," Morganna answered, carrying the metal test tube rack.

"Showing your loyalties, even after this time," the male appeared.

Morganna's boss put her in a precarious position. He was a full blood fey, and knew what she was, and of her past. As a result he had something to blackmail her with, especially as she knew how some of her all too Christian workmates would react to having a fallen angel among them, as a result she both hated him, and needed him to maintain her cover.

That was not the end of the problem. The fey seemed more than willing to get Morganna into his bed, at which she had refused. However, if she wanted to keep her job, and her life, she had to allow him to flirt. He was not forceful, and would not go any further than the laws of etiquette dictated, and yet he was always trying to seduce the fallen angel.

Morganna looked at her boss, and knew many would think him handsome. She on the other hand could only see the twisted spirit beneath the façade. His hair was a bright red, and his eyes a bright green, which marked him out as different from humans. As a result he often wore sunglasses, although sometimes in the depths of winter he would put a glamour on himself that made him a little more human, even down to changing the unearthly pale tone of his complexion.

"Has the fey queen let you leave this early?" she asked trying to hide her annoyance.

"Of course Morganna, I do not have to attend to her every whim, especially as I have… responsibilities here," the fey smiled smoothly.

"What you mean overwork and underpay your staff when you're rich enough to pay us much better?" Morganna enquired smiling brightly.

"Morganna dear, you and I both know you don't need the money," her boss stepped closer to her.

"Some of us might do," Morganna replied defensively.

"Morganna, why can't you just let me show you how much I admire you?" the fey backed Morganna up against a wall.

"Because its not really true, and you know it, Oberon," Morganna pushed her boss away, uncomfortable with how close he was.

"You know I hate that name," Oberon shivered.

"Yes, that's why I use it," Morganna commented, "Now I have to get home."

"He would never have loved you, you should let someone who does love you show what it is to be loved," Oberon retorted as Morganna walked away, making her stop and every muscle in her body stiffen.

"I know what it is to be loved," Morganna replied, before adding, "Go to hell."

"Only if you'll come with me," the fey called after the fallen angel as she walked away.

Morganna sighed heavily as she walked outside, and let her shoulders sag. The bastard! He always knew how best to get to her, and he had done it exactly right as always. Oberon had illusions of importance just because his parents had an unfortunate obsession with Shakespeare, and had named him after the King of the Fairies in "A Midsummer night's dream".

"Damn you Oberon! Damn you Lucian! Damn it!" Morganna exclaimed through gritted teeth.

She drove home slowly, knowing what was waiting back at her flat for her. It was small and dingy, with only one bedroom, a kitchen and a bathroom. There was nothing remarkable about the building, it was cheap, and served a purpose. It was good cover, who would think of looking for a fallen angel with the rest of the down and outs of society?

The clichés were always the best. In fact, unlike the belief that fallen angels were to be found among the down and outs, the truth was stranger than that. They often moved in the highest circles of society, rubbing noses with the vampires, until it got them killed, of course. There was also the fact that these same angels had the money to hire the bodyguards that the vampires couldn't kill.

Morganna had the money, and she had the prospects of power. Yet she knew, however many bodyguards she hired that the vampire elders would always find a way to kill her. She knew too much, and had betrayed them. So she kept to the shadows, where no one would think of looking for her.

It had worked, up until then. But Morganna's past was about to catch up with her in a way that she could neither have foreseen, or prevented. It was time for Morganna to enter the Underworld again…

Author's note: So here we are people, the first proper chapter. I know nothing really exciting happens here, but I just have to set up the things that happened from the middle ages to the present day. I do hope you enjoyed. Any reviews will be greatly appreciated.


	3. Chapter 2

Raging Raven: I am glad you are enjoying this. I am very pleased that you think that I write like some other authors, especially when I respect them and like their books. L.K. Hamilton rocks!!!

Chapter 2

Morganna pulled into her apartment block and got out of her car. Locking it she jangled the keys as she walked into the building. She contemplated the stairs, but she was feeling too tired after her long day at work, and was looking forward to nothing more than a dinner that was edible, a shower, and then falling into the black oblivion of sleep.

She pressed the button, and was relieved when she only had to wait a few moments for the elevator. When it came she stepped inside it, and quietly waited as the elevator slid its way slowly up the building to her floor. Before the doors opened she became aware of the sounds of gunfire, and growling.

Frowning Morganna listened a few seconds more. She was still deciding whether or not to quit the relative safety of the elevator when the doors slid open. She saw a pair of hands pry open the doors, as if they could not open quickly enough. Michael, a nurse who Morganna knew lived a few doors down from her, scrambled in and pressed the down button.

"What's going on Michael?" Morganna demanded.

"I don't know, but a woman broke into my apartment, and there are these beast things after me," Michael panted.

Morganna's mind shut down. The vampires and lycans were here, in her very apartment building. But why? And more to the point, what did they want with Michael? Morganna could not imagine what they would want with the quiet nurse, who kept himself very much to himself. Morganna prayed that no one would recognise her. If word got back to the vampire mansion she would die.

That turned out to be the least of Morganna's problems. The elevator hit the ground floor with a dull thud, and the doors, again slid open. Michael sighed, obviously relieved that no monster had found them. Until he noticed the man standing in the doorway of the elevator. He seemed bemused, especially when the man smiled at him.

"Hello Michael," he said.

"Shit," Morganna cursed under her breath in reply.

Morganna had frozen completely. She had not expected to see him, here. That face brought back so many memories of times gone by. So, Lucian was not dead after all. Morganna saw how little the lycan had changed over the hundreds of years that had passed since she had last saw him. Her heart bled afresh as she saw him.

She almost screamed when she heard gunfire, although she knew it was not aimed at her. Whoever the marksman, or woman, was, they seemed to have caught Lucian, as he reached out from Michael and bit him. She recoiled as the two men hit the floor, she did not want to be crushed. A few seconds later saw a dark haired woman drag Michael away by his foot.

Lucian still almost in the midst of his change, reached into his coat and pulled out a vial that Morganna knew well was used in scientific research. Into this he spat some of the blood that he had taken when he had bitten Michael, before capping the vial off. Morganna knew she should have moved, and yet she was afraid to move, as if she would be seen if she did.

Lucian stood, then, and shrugged off his coat. His eyes turned a milky blue, and his fangs lengthened, almost as if he were going to change. What happened next though, puzzled Morganna. She watched as the bullets wound their way out of Lucian's body, the poisonous metal hissing and burning as it fell to the floor of the elevator. It was obviously painful, and Morganna almost moved to help, but knew she would be of no use, and anyway, she was fascinated by this new development.

Eventually Lucian clenched his fists and the last bullet fell to the floor. His eyes closed, and when they opened again they were back to normal. Morganna started to inch her way out of the elevator, hoping he wouldn't notice her, and then those eyes turned their gaze on her. She smiled slightly, before trying to carry on.

"It's been a long time, Morganna," Lucian said before running off.

Morganna had frozen as soon as he had mentioned her name. So he did recognise her, even after all these years. Although, she lamented, nothing about her had really changed, apart from her outlook on life. After a while, she realised that Lucian was not going to come back, and she relaxed a little. Exiting the elevator she picked up a single silver bullet, as a souvenir of the fight, and took the stairs.

"Should have taken the damn stairs in the first place," Morganna mused as she took the stairs up to her apartment.

Opening her door she was satisfied that no one had entered her flat. That was good, as she had some things that she did not want anyone to find, especially not Lucian. She could not imagine how he would react to the news that she had married a string of rich men, just for their money. It would surprise him no doubt; he had not known her to be cold and calculating.

The first thing Morganna did was to pick up the phone. She realised that she would have to leave, and soon. With a frustrated sigh Morganna slammed the phone down as she realised she had no one she could call. She did not want to endanger her workmates, and Oberon, well he would be Oberon, and try to take advantage of the situation.

She resolved to go straight to a hotel, and from there she would think through another plan of action. She would have to leave the country, and resign from her job. Morganna smiled as she thought of Oberon's reaction when he heard what she had to tell him; much less that she would be leaving him and her work.

First into the bag went Morganna's marriage certificates, and the few scant photographs she had collected over the years. Next in went all of her clothing collection. The angel was used to moving quickly, and in a hurry. As a result she bought very little, and was often used to having to abandon things.

Next she took a shoulder satchel. Into this went her small collection of books that she took with her wherever she went. After this she took out a beautiful jewellery box, and placed that inside the bag. On top of this she added her mobile, and a few other things that she had forgotten. Pulling that bag closed Morganna nodded to herself.

Finally she went to the now empty wardrobe and pulled out a single large backpack. Out of this she produced four guns. Two were loaded with silver ammunition, with plenty to spare. Her next gun was filled with lead bullets. When you had a fey boss you often had other fey coming to call, and often force was all that would send them packing.

The final gun was the newest. She had been given it as a present from Oberon. He had told her that the gift meant that she could never complain that he never looked after her safety. Contained within it were the new ultra violet bullets, sunlight harnessed in liquid form. Contained within the bags were also copious amounts of spare lead and UV magazines, for when she ran out.

Morganna suddenly remembered everything that was in the bathroom. She packed this quickly, there were only a few hand and bath towels, some soap, flannels and other assorted products, including a toothbrush and toothpaste. She caught a look at herself in the mirror and started.

Morganna was still thin after all the hundreds of years. A life on the run had done nothing for her. Her nose turned up slightly at the end, and was small. Her hair was drawn back away from her slim oval face. She smiled as she thought how Lucian would have reacted to her changing her hair. It was still the same dark colour as before, only now she had highlighted it with a deep red, which complemented the darker colour.

That was not what stopped her, though. She had lost all colour from her skin, and seemed a ghostly white. Her green eyes glimmered with worry. For a few moments the woman placed her forehead against the cooling glass of the mirror. When she was sure she could think objectively she opened her eyes and resumed her preparations.

The angel decided to carry her guns. It could get her arrested, and yet at the moment she thought that jail was the best place that she could be. The UV bullets and lead bullet guns were placed in shoulder holsters that she could reach for a cross draw. The first silver gun she placed at the small of her back, and the second was held on the inside of her leg.

Over the years Morganna had found she preferred the draw from the small of her back, and the inside of her leg. Since she knew she was more likely to need the silver bullets that night she had them so that she could get at them quickest. Lucian no doubt would want to see her, but did she want to see him?

Something in her had lurched when she had first seen him. Hell she knew she was still attracted to him, but hadn't she grown up enough by now to know that she didn't need to act on foolish impulses. And yet something in her mind told her that if Lucian asked her she would be his, foolish or not.

Morganna realised now why she had left him. There was something within her that said Lucian was a comrade in arms, and you did not fall in love with them, it got them and you both killed. The other half, the side that was the woman, cried out for love and companionship. The war tore within the angel, which explained why she had left.

Whilst Morganna was frantically preparing to leave, Lucian was talking to Raze about her. If he knew her well enough, which he thought he did, he knew she would run, she had been running for a long time now. So time was of the essence, he wanted Raze to be there as quickly as possible, to at least catch the trail of Morganna if she had already gone.

"What has she got to do with the war?" Raze asked curiously.

"She's a scientist, and an old friend," Lucian explained.

"We have Singe," Raze dismissed that comment.

"I trust her more," Lucian said calmly.

"So you want me to go and get her?" Raze asked, after a pause.

"Yes, that's what I asked," Lucian sighed, annoyed at having to repeat himself.

"Will she help with the war effort?" Raze demanded.

"I don't know, but I can ask her," Lucian shrugged.

Raze looked sceptical, but eventually he agreed. Lucian smiled and thanked his lieutenant. It would be good to see a face from the old days. Especially as it was Morganna. The leader allowed himself to admit that he had felt a bond with the fallen angel. And she was attractive, he admitted to himself with a smile. He would have to be very careful when he introduced her to the lycans.

A few moments later, back at the apartment Morganna started when she heard a knock at the door. She waited a few moments, hoping that whoever it was would go away after a while. However, a few moments later the knocks were repeated, louder and more insistent this time. The angel cast out her senses, and knew it was a lycan.

Panicking now, Morganna knew she had run out of time. She ran through to the bedroom and hid herself underneath the bed. She knew it was not the most of original of hiding places, and yet it would do for a while. She quickly drew one of her guns, and held it ready in her hands. She tried to steady her shaking hands, she could quite easily injure an innocent passer by if she were not careful, calm and collected.

After a few seconds she heard the splintering of wood as her door was forced open. _Great, Lucian had to send in the muscle, _Morganna cursed silently to herself. She heard heavy footsteps on the floor, and felt the trembling floorboards as the person checked the bedroom. She knew they could sense her, lycans had an advanced sense of smell, and could sense heartbeats of living things.

A few tense minutes passed, where Morganna scarcely dared to breathe. She saw a pair of dark black heavy duty boots, and found herself almost praying. She stopped herself, she never had liked praying to gods and goddesses, you owed them too much afterwards. _Yeah, like a belief in them, _she thought. So Morganna just stayed and kept her breathing as even and quiet as she could.

She heard the heavy boots thud back through to the living room, but still Morganna couldn't relax. The woman knew that the lycan could smell her, and knew that he knew that she was still in the building. In all likelihood he knew she was hiding under the bed. It was just a matter of who could wait the other out.

Morganna lost all her patience when she heard her hold all being unzipped and her private papers being rummaged through. She was going to try to make a run for it. She checked she had her car keys in the hand that was not clasping her gun. Rolling out from the bed she fired a few shots into the window, causing it to shatter.

Without checking to see if she had a reaction Morganna launched herself out of the window. As she fell her dark wings unfolded and allowed her to float gently to the ground. Almost before her feet hit the ground her legs were pounding, sending her running through the streets. She knew the lycan would be after her in a few seconds, he would probably find the window and follow her out of it.

Stumbling across to her car she heard the lycan's pounding feet. She tried desperately to jam the keys into the door, but fumbled and missed, dropping the keys in the process. She knew she wouldn't have time to pick the keys up, so she started to run. In the end she was only delaying the inevitable, as eventually she ran into an outstretched arm.

"My, my, she is a pretty little thing," she heard said before she collapsed into darkness.

Author's note: I do hope that you are all enjoying. Please feel free to send me any feedback you want, if not don't worry about it, I'll live.


	4. Chapter 3

WhiteAngel78: I am really sorry. I didn't realise. And yes, I do know what you mean; there aren't all that many LucianOC stories out there. Trust me, your English is good. It happens sometimes that people say one thing and mean another. I am really glad you're enjoying this still, and sorry again for the misunderstanding.

Raging Raven: I am glad I have been able to entice you into reading more. Later on, I'll be using the L.K. Hamilton way of structuring a werewolf pack, so watch out for that! I blame my sister and her friends for converting me to the ways of L.K. Hamilton, so at least I can talk to some people about it!

Chapter 3

Morganna groaned. Her head hurt tremendously. One hand felt tentatively around her, and silk sheets bunched beneath her fingers. This was strange, one moment she had been running through the dark streets and the rain, and now this, silk sheets. It had been so long since Morganna had even dreamed of a luxury such as this that she let herself revel in it for a few moments.

Then her closed eyes clenched tightly as a ripping headache raced through her mind. She groggily opened her eyes, and held a hand above her head to shield her eyes from the bright light. Once she was sure her eyes had adjusted she lowered her hand, sat up and looked around her.

She was in a four poster bed, with silken sheets, and an eiderdown coverlet. The walls had been panelled with a deep red wood that Morganna did not know the name of. Everything else was decorated in red and gold. It seemed like a room fit for a princess. Sitting in a chair by a roaring log fire was a figure she knew very well.

"Where am I?" Morganna groaned.

"That doesn't matter, how are you feeling?" Lucian enquired.

"A really bad headache, but I suppose you did tell your men not to be gentle," Morganna shot back angrily.

"Are you mad at me?" Lucian seemed pleased by this new development.

"You know, you could just have asked to see me," Morganna answered after a few moments.

"But I think we both know you'd have run," Lucian said after a pause.

Morganna grimaced, knowing that what Lucian said was true. She would have run. It was almost second nature to her now, after all the years of running, it would now be hard to stop. She walked over to the fire and sat down in the unoccupied chair. Looking at the papers on a mahogany side table she recognised her marriage certificates, rummaging through one she held it up to the light and studied it.

"You have been a busy girl," Lucian remarked dryly.

"No more than you," Morganna shrugged, placing the paper back down.

"Why Morganna, why, after all those years?" Lucian demanded, throwing the certificate he held down.

"Because I needed money, and I was on my own," Morganna answered angrily.

"You should have found me," Lucian reprimanded gently.

"What, you had everyone believe you were dead, how was I supposed to find you?" Morganna asked.

"I tried to find you Morganna, believe me I did, but every time, for almost the past eight hundred years I've only heard mentions of your name, I was always one step too far behind you, why?" Lucian queried, catching Morganna off guard.

"What do you mean?" The angel was puzzled by the question.

"Why did you leave in the first place, why did you not find me?" Lucian pressed again.

"If I could tell you, I would, but I can't, so please don't ask," Morganna answered carefully, quietly.

Lucian observed her for a while, watching her reaction. She was angry at him for all the subterfuge, and underneath that he sensed she was hurt. That was the reason she had run all those years. The lycan had a feeling that the pain was deep running, and would take many years to heal. Sensing he had hurt her, and knowing that was not the reason he brought her here he decided to change his tack.

"I asked you here tonight for a reason," Lucian began slowly.

"Asked implies there was some choice," Morganna shot back.

"For once in your life would you just listen?" Lucian demanded, letting his anger show.

"I am listening," Morganna replied affronted.

"I need you… we need you, to help in the war," Lucian explained.

"Do you want to get me killed?" Morganna asked.

"No Morganna, we are so close to finding something that would win the war and we need your help, please, for old time's sake," Lucian pleaded.

"Lucian, I turned my back on that world a long time ago, I'm sorry, I'm not the girl I was all those years ago," Morganna shook her head as she stood to leave.

"Morganna, what if Viktor and the vampires find out where you're living?" Lucian demanded.

"I'm leaving here, it was a mistake to come back," Morganna again shook her head.

"That's it? The fallen angel Morganna, running until someone finds out she's a fallen angel and kills her?" Lucian stopped her dead in her tracks.

"It's better than living in the past," Morganna shot back, angry now.

"No Morganna, I'm not living in the past, I'm using science to topple the vampires, and only when they're gone can you really be safe," Lucian explained heatedly.

Morganna paused at the door. Her hand was reaching out to open the door, but she stopped herself. Could she really walk away from Lucian a second time? Even knowing that he didn't feel the way she did? The warrior within her was waking, unfurling her wings. It demanded the blood of all of those who had ever made her be something she was not.

Every angel was had a warrior inside of them. They were the ones that allowed the angels to be the protectors of gods and goddesses. They allowed the angels to be cold, calculating and ruthless. However Morganna's warrior had become so closely entwined with her real life she could hardly tell where one ended and the other began.

"Morgan, please," Lucian begged, sensing her conundrum, using the nickname he had always had for her.

"Promise me one thing," Morganna slowly spoke.

"What's that?" Lucian asked, puzzled.

"That you give me my guns back," Morganna demanded, holding out her hands.

Lucian found himself smiling. It was good to have Morganna back. Over the years he had known her she had proven to be smart, and a capable fighter. Although he had noticed, she preferred to keep out of the melee, she was small and thin, and could easily be overpowered by a large lycan, or a vampire.

"Of course, mind you, I've had to keep the silver bullets," Lucian shrugged.

"One gun, one clip of silver bullets," Morganna demanded.

"Why would you want them?" Lucian enquired.

"Gee, I don't know, I don't want anyone getting any ideas," Morganna explained.

"Ah yes," Lucian admitted, and tossed her a single clip.

"And the guns?" Morganna asked, her head on one side, a small smile playing on her lips.

One by one Lucian handed Morganna back the guns. He sensed she knew how to use them; she handled them with relative ease, and checked each of the guns for any more tampering than what the lycan had promised her. That cautiousness, Lucian guessed, had served her well over the years. She looked down the sight of the final gun, before holstering it.

"Take me home," she commanded after a pause.

"Impossible," Lucian stated quickly.

"What do you mean?" Morganna demanded.

"As soon as they find out, the vampires will kill you," Lucian explained simply.

"So I'm expected to give up my entire life for this war?" The angel asked.

"You did once before," Lucian reminded her.

"I hate it when you're being reasonable," Morganna commented, smiling wryly.

"I know you do," Lucian answered, smiling back.

"I'm about to step into the wolf's den," Morganna spoke after a pause.

"You can't say that you don't like it," Lucian commented.

"I could," Morganna corrected.

"But you'd be lying," Lucian shot back.

Morganna nodded and smiled. Perhaps, she thought, things were going to turn out all right. She still determined to quit her job, less mess to clear up when the vampires tried to trace her. Oberon wouldn't be happy, but then, what could Morganna do to make him happy, short of jumping into his bed. She shook her head. She had made that mistake once before, jumping into someone's bed to make them happy, and would not be making it again.

Sitting down Morganna lifted up a few of her marriage certificates. She did not know why she kept them, a record perhaps, of what she had done. They were neither needed nor cherished. Reaching a final decision Morganna collected all of the papers and threw them into the fire. Lucian seemed surprised at this movement, but let her do it, sensing she needed to burn them. The two watched the papers burn.

"The bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn," Morganna muttered to herself.

"We should get going, it's not long until sunrise," Lucian stood.

"I need to go somewhere first," Morganna agreed.

"Where?" Lucian enquired, sounding interested.

"To my boss's house, to hand in my resignation," Morganna explained.

"At this time in the morning?" Lucian couldn't hide his disbelief.

"He'll be awake, believe me," Morganna answered.

"He's not a vampire, tell me he's not a vampire," Lucian pleaded.

"He's not, he's a full blood fey," Morganna smiled as she made her way out the door.

"Which is worse?" Lucian called after her.

"The vampire's you can kill," Morganna answered.

Lucian groaned inwardly. He had a funny feeling that Morganna was about to complicate things. Not only was she going to be a female walking into and living with, a mainly male lycan group of warriors, she was also working for a fey. And from what she said the lycan leader guessed that the boss was not going to be pleased with this sudden resignation.

Morganna directed the driver to Oberon's house. On the way she told Lucian a little about her boss. Although she held some things back. She didn't think the lycan would take well to hearing about her boss's attempts at trying to seduce her. Something within her seemed happier. She had burnt the past, and now she was about to finish off yet another chapter of her life.

The car pulled up outside a large mansion. The large electric gates swung open, without any person within having to use the intercom situated outside the gates. This worried Lucian, he did not know much about fey, this was out of his comfort zone, however much he hated to admit it. Morganna smiled reassuringly, she could do nothing else short of telling him things were going to be aright.

Which was about the last thing the fallen angel was going to tell him. She herself was beginning to get nervous, what the hell had she been thinking, meeting Oberon on his home turf? He knew too much about her past, and could blackmail her if he wanted. He would at least enjoy making her squirm, especially in front of the lycan that she happened to have fallen in love with, and who was blissfully unaware of how she felt.

The pair were conducted in to a parlour. Morganna was not awed by her surroundings; she had stayed in homes much the same as this when she was a rich lady. The carpets were a sumptuous deep blue, with golden fleur-de-lys patterns. Most of the chairs were covered in another sumptuous blue fabric, and the carved legs were covered with gold gilding. All in all, to the angel, it was boundless, and pointless, a display of wealth meant to impress her.

At that moment Oberon came in. He was also dressed in a plush blue dressing gown, and at that Morganna really did have to roll her eyes. Truly, her boss was doing this on purpose, but it was making her laugh all this fawning. However the laughter died when she realised that Oberon was not wearing anything underneath the robe. Then she just wanted to scream in frustration.

"You tie in very nicely with your surroundings," Morganna commented.

"I like to be set off by my surroundings," Oberon answered, turning his head in profile.

Morganna had to stifle another laugh at that. Did Oberon really not know he was not dealing with some human girl, who would fall into his bed as soon as she saw how attractive he was? The angel knew she had seen him at his worst, and now refused to be enamoured by the simple glamour. After a while the fey realised it was not working, and turned back to Morganna.

"I take it you're not here for pleasure," he observed, nodding to Lucian.

"You wish, I'm here about work," Morganna explained.

"Oh but I do wish," Oberon's seductive tones failed to work on Morganna. Seeing they weren't working the fey added, "What about work?"

"I quit," Morganna answered, standing to go.

"But it's not as easy as that," Oberon stopped Morganna in her tracks.

"My contract finished as of midnight tonight, so I think you find I can," Morganna answered, standing to go.

"But Morganna, you're on my territory now," Oberon laughed.

"Damn you Oberon, what do you want?" Morganna asked, annoyed.

"I want to grant you and your lycan friend a final parting gift," Oberon answered, standing.

Morganna went to stand, but the fey motioned for her to sit. She stayed where she was with a great force of will. Oberon approached her until he stood a few feet over her. Every muscle in her body tensed as the fey laid a single hand on her head. She frowned when nothing else followed, but a string of simple words ran out of the fey's mouth.

Once he had finished with the angel he smiled and nodded to Lucian, who seemed pleased by the new development. Morganna ran her hands over her head a few times, to reassure herself that she still had hair. When she could not tell what the fey had done, Oberon produced a small pocket mirror for Morganna to look in. She stared in shock as she saw all her red highlights had been removed.

"My gift to you both," Oberon explained.

"I liked my hair," Morganna protested weakly.

"Not suitable for a war fought underground, you must be able to melt into the shadows," Oberon commented.

"I like your hair how it is now anyway," Lucian jumped in.

Morganna frowned, knowing she was beaten when Lucian had joined in. If she allowed herself to admit the truth she knew the men were right. But it still annoyed her. For so long she had had the final say in what she did with herself, and now someone wanted to take that right away from her it irked her.

Between the two males it was arranged that Morganna's things from the lab would be picked up by Raze. The angel seemed to have been forgotten, which annoyed her. This was the attitude that had so annoyed her in the past, she was a woman, and as such had no say in the things that went on around her.

"Thank you for deciding my life for the next sixty years for me," Morganna jumped in after a pause.

"Morgan, please," Lucian sighed exasperated.

"Why do you let him call you Morgan, and not me?" Oberon suddenly asked.

Morganna blushed as she thought of a suitable answer. Her boss had her now, and he knew it. The angel had let her guard down, she had thought that, perhaps, they might escape without any of the inevitable questions that she had suspected would be coming. Especially if he found out that the lycan she had bought was the leader and Lucian at that.

Oberon laughed at her obvious discomfort. But he seemed content to let it go, he had goaded the angel into a reaction, and that was all that he had wanted. Although, as the lycan and angel got up to leave he settled back into his chair, and looked at Lucian calculatingly. Morganna almost found herself screaming in frustration, she almost knew what was coming.

"And what would the name of your friend be?" Oberon asked, his head resting on his hands.

"None of your concern," Morganna quickly answered.

"But it is," Oberon countered, "I welcomed him into my home."

"Well, you should have asked before, now we're leaving," Morganna answered, standing to leave, and taking Lucian with her.

"I know who he is," Oberon's voice suddenly sounded around the house as the pair walked out, and then he started to laugh.

Morganna was happy when she and Lucian had left. The lycan was slightly puzzled by what Oberon had said, and asked why. Although he stopped asking when Morganna had given him a very sharp answer. He could only guess that it had something to do with her past, although why it should involve him he could not guess. However, Lucian resolved to find out.

Author's note: Sorry if this seems like it's got a lot of dialogue in it, because it has. I wanted to give people an idea of the relationships between the characters. I hope everyone is enjoying, and all reviews are gratefully received.


	5. Chapter 4

Raging Raven: Well I hope you keep on enjoying this. I will and try to make it as enjoyable as I can for you.

Chapter 4

It was almost daylight when Morganna made her way into the underbelly of the city. She had never been there, and looked around her with surprise. Her heels clicked against the stone floor as she followed the lycan leader deeper into his den. This was the result of the war that had raged on for hundreds of years.

Everyone looked up as she and Lucian passed. There were very few females, and all of the lycans were dressed in clothing that had seen better days. They all looked at her with mistrust in their eyes, which were human for as long as they were. With a pang the angel thought how, if things had been different, she would have been known to each and every wolf here.

Although this was not the time for regrets, this was the time for war. Morganna could feel that things were drawing to a head; she knew the new elder would be awakened in a few days time. That would be the time when Lucian would strike, with the most force. After this, anyone who had ever taken part in the war would be able to keep out of it.

Eventually Lucian stopped outside some plastic strips, which were serving as a doorway. Morganna sensed his hesitation at letting her inside, and stepped forward, looking puzzled. She could almost sense that behind that door was something that she needed to see, without being sure if she really wanted to see it. The sense that she had to know what was behind that door was more important than any misgivings she might have, and she stepped forward, through the makeshift door.

Inside the stench of blood was the first thing to hit her. Unused to this Morganna reeled backwards slightly, before rallying herself, and taking a hesitant step forward. All around her were the tools of a trade that Morganna recognised very well, being a scientist. Some of the other things she recognised she knew were to do with medical science.

A lycan soon emerged, when he saw that he had guests. To Morganna he seemed like a detestable character. He was short, and thin, with large glasses that magnified his shifting eyes. He had made no effort to keep himself or his surroundings clean, which made the angel suspicious of him already. No scientist worked in this filth; they always found a way to clean their labs.

"Morganna, this is Singe," Lucian introduced the pair.

Morganna took the hand of the other scientist, and managed to summon the ghost of a smile to her face. Singe took her hand and tried to crush it, trying to assert his dominance. Throughout Morganna kept her smile firmly in place, even though it was obvious the bones in her hand were cracking. Eventually Singe let go, a look of awe on his face.

"Do you mind if I take a look around?" Morganna enquired politely.

"I would rather you did not interfere with my work," Singe argued.

"She's not asking to help, she's asking to see your work," Lucian prompted.

Morganna had already walked over to the far wall. Here she stopped and observed the large family tree that had been constructed painstakingly over the years. One hand reached up and traced a single line, until she came to Michael's name. Lucian noticed her hand rested over his name, and then she turned to him, a question in her emerald eyes.

"Why?" She enquired simply.

"To end the war we need him," it was Singe who explained.

"But not in his human form," Lucian explained.

"And not as a werewolf or a vampire," Morganna guessed.

"A blending of the species, half-lycan, half-vampire," Singe explained.

"And you need one of the Corvinus line," the angel guessed.

"You've got it in one," Lucian nodded his encouragement.

Morganna noticed all the black lines. She wondered about them, but did not voice her question, already knowing the answers. If she thought about it, she found that she could not really care. Something within her had hardened throughout the years. They were just casualties of the war, a war that was never meant to be hers.

And yet it was. She was here, now, and fighting. All that was left of most of this family tree were names on paper. Anything to stop it from her name on a bit of paper. Anything to stop it being her as meat, anything to stop it from being her laid out on a morgue table, her body being cut open mercilessly. That was why she had been running for all those years, just to stop it from being her.

"Morganna," Lucian called to the angel breaking into her thoughts.

Willingly she followed the leader now. She was tired; the events of the past day were more than she could stand. She had wanted sleep ever since she had got back to her apartment, and yet, necessity had forced her to be up most of the night. Now she was ready for sleep, her brain knew it was safe, so it had begun to shut down.

"Morganna?" Lucian asked, smiling slightly.

"Pardon?" she enquired, realising she had been asked something.

"We'll talk later, you need sleep."

"No we can talk now."

"Not really, not with you half dead on your feet."

Morganna liked that analogy. Half dead, she mused. It would be ironic if she had spent all those years running from the war just to die the moment she re-entered the war, of tiredness. It would prove the fact that the fates worked in strange ways. Although Morganna hoped she would not die, not just yet, she wanted to see what would happen. Things were beginning to get interesting.

This time Lucian led her to a door with a lock. She raised her eyebrows as Lucian unlocked the door, and beckoned her inside. Morganna guessed this was the room in which she was supposed to stay. It was not as large as the one she had just vacated. It was a long rectangular shape, with another door off it, which the angel fervently hoped was a bathroom.

Tucked away into one corner was a single bed. In yet another corner there was a small pine wardrobe. To finish, there was a small mirror pinned on the concrete walls, and a small chair that someone could sleep in. Finally there was a shelf attached to the wall, beneath the mirror. The only decoration was a small oriental rug beneath the bed.

"Not five star accommodation," Morganna commented lightly.

"Were you expecting it?" Lucian asked.

"Not really, not here, but how did you get the money for the hotel room?"

"I have my ways," Lucian declared enigmatically before adding, "You look tired, you should sleep."

"Yes mommy," Morganna replied sarcastically.

"By the way, here's the key to your room, I recommend you keep it locked when you're asleep."

"Why, afraid I'll hurt someone?"

"Not at all, but you are one of few females around here."

"Morning Lucian," Morganna waved as the lycan exited.

After the lycan had left Morganna walked to the door and locked it. She heard a heavy metal bolt scrape into place. The door itself was a few inches thick, and made of solid steel. Morganna knew it had been designed to keep any lycans out, however strong they were. It gave her a feeling of security that she had not felt in many years.

She changed quickly into a pair of pyjamas. As she walked to her bed she stopped when she noticed a small black velvet pouch resting on the pillow. Sitting cross legged on the bed she weighed the bag up in her hand. To her it was not very heavy, and she opened it by the use of a drawstring and poured the contents into her hand. Seeing it, tears pooled in her eyes as she recognised her pendant.

"I love you Lucian," Morganna declared, slipping the pendant over her head.

Settling down into sleep Morganna realised how tired she was. She did not even have to force all of her tensed muscles to relax, she was simply glad to be in a bed. Her eyes closed almost automatically, they were simply too heavy to be kept open. Morganna welcomed the blissful unawareness that sleep brought.

The next afternoon Morganna drifted in and out of consciousness. She was toying whether or not to wake up, dress and face the world. Instead she settled for a few more moments of just lying in bed, enjoying being half awake. Her limbs felt pleasantly heavy, and everything was relaxed, she had not been this relaxed in hundreds of years.

She was dragged out of her solitary revelry when the locks on the door grated open. She groaned and rolled over as the heavy door swung open and admitted Lucian. Morganna toyed with the idea of throwing a pillow at the lycan, she was enjoying her time spent on her own, examining her own thoughts. She decided against it and settled for groaning and tucking her legs up to her chin.

Lucian smiled at his friend as he took a perch at the end of the bed that Morganna's feet had recently vacated. She frowned at him slightly, showing her slight displeasure, but the lycan knew her well enough to tell it was only slight, at being disturbed. Her look changed after a while, from one of displeasure to one of calculation.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"I came to wish you a good afternoon," the werewolf quipped.

"You could have done that when I was awake," Morganna moaned, throwing a pillow.

"You were awake," Lucian countered, throwing the pillow back.

"I take it you woke me up for a reason?"

"Your things are here, and I thought you might want to look over them."

"Do I have to do it now?"

"I thought you might, considering Oberon sent you an inventory to check."

"Oh the joy of ticking boxes," Morganna commented swinging her feet out of the bed.

"I'll be in Singe's lab with your things," Lucian exited.

Morganna finally found herself at leisure to explore the other room. To her relief she found it was a bathroom, and allowed herself the small luxury of a shower. As the hot water cascaded down on her body she wondered why she had been sent the inventory. She did not really need it; she knew what she was supposed to have. She then realised that Oberon was making sure that the lycans knew what her work was, and she would not be surprised if he had sent her some lycan blood as well, just to land her in trouble.

However, she knew that Lucian would not mind too much. She made sure she only took blood samples from willing lycans, who came to her. Everything would appear above board, even in a government enquiry, the scientist was taking blood from test subjects who agreed to have their blood taken. She probably had them in the files that she had sent for.

Morganna dressed simply and quickly. She pulled on a pair of blue jeans. With this she teamed a simple black vest top with sleeves that were attached halfway between her elbows. Next she finished off her look by pulling the front of her hair back into a ponytail, and left the rest hanging loose. She holstered the gun with silver bullets at the small of her back to finish.

Without waiting for a Lucian or someone else to guide her Morganna set out to try and find Singe's lab. She soon discovered her mistake, as she became hopelessly lost. There were very few people around, so she could not just ask for directions. Eventually she thought she spotted someone she recognised, although she couldn't be sure, until of course he came up to her.

"Dr. Morganna, what are you doing here?" The lycan asked.

"Getting hopelessly lost," Morganna answered.

"So the rumours are true?"

"It all depends on what the rumours are, doesn't it John?"

"That you're here to help us in the war."

"You know, for once the rumours have it right."

"But you're just a scientist, unless you're here to help Singe."

"I would not help such an unethical beast if you paid me; I'm here for other reasons."

"But you're just a mortal!" Jonathan exclaimed in shock.

"Would you like to put a bet on that?"

"Probably not, because you're here, but where are you trying to get to?"

"Singe's lab."

"Follow me Dr," Jonathan commanded.

Morganna followed; glad to see a friendly face in the underworld. Jonathan was one of her lycan donators, he was glad to give blood once a month. He said it was the least he could do for Morganna, who was the one to discover that the freak illness the lycan was suffering was actually an ex-girlfriend poisoning him slowly by feeding him tiny amounts of silver.

In a way, it was not Jonathan's fault he was a lycan. He just happened to be walking down a dark alleyway at the wrong time of the month and something tried to take a bite out of him. Of course he had survived, and eventually went to ground after he realised he would start turning furry about once a month, and the incident of the girlfriend of course. And yet throughout he stayed optimistic.

"Here we are Dr, I'll leave you to it," Jonathan smiled as the trip came to an end.

"Thank you Jonathan," Morganna thanked him, which bought a smile to his face.

"No problems, you'll find your way around here…eventually."

Morganna smiled as the lycan walked off. Sighing to herself she walked through to the lab. There she saw Raze looking through the inventory. He frowned when he reached one part, before putting it down on the table. Lucian was propped up against a table, an annoyed look on his face. Before he could say anything Morganna held up a finger.

"Don't you dare tell me I've been killing lycans to get the blood," she declared walking to one box.

Ripping it open she discovered it was not the one she was looking for. So she ended up sifting through most of the boxes, until she eventually pulled out the one she wanted. It was a simple blue box file which she handed to Lucian. He was content after he had rifled through a few pages, before handing the box to Raze.

"I guess we were wrong about you," Lucian admitted after a pause.

"Like that would be a first," Morganna commented sarcastically.

"After all this time you turn up with what Singe calls breakthrough technology into the problem with silver…"

"Not breakthrough really, I still can't find out why you're allergic to it."

"But still Morganna, this is…" Lucian trailed off.

"Too good for an ordinary human to have researched." Singe walked in.

"I bet you would love to know how I discovered all this," Morganna smiled curtly.

At that moment an icy silence descended on the room. Lucian left a few moments later when the loud sounds of a mobile phone broke into the eerie silence. Morganna went back to rifle through boxes, checking that she had everything she wanted, or needed. She had a feeling that life would no longer be about her wants, but her needs. She could barely remember a time when it had been different apart from that one time…NO! She said she would not think about it.

"Raze, we have a slight problem," Lucian re entered the room.

"Want me to come?"Morganna enquired lightly.

"No."

"But why not?"

"Because Soren is probably going to be there, and I prefer you alive."

"Meddling in vampire politics, a dangerous game."

"I know, but at least I expect the danger."

"They'll always get you when you least expect it," Morganna commented sagely.

"My dear, I'm always careful."

"So was I, but I still have the scars to prove whatever it is they were meant to prove."

"If he had proved what he meant to, you wouldn't be here now."

"What did who want to prove Dr.?" Jonathan asked walking in, earning him a withering look from Lucian.

"Oh, just Soren tried to kill me, because I wanted to be a slave master instead of a Lady." Morganna answered brightly.

"But that would make you…Oh," Jason trailed off.

"I told you not to take bets that I was mortal."

"Well Raze and I have to go, although we would so love to stay," Lucian commented.

"See you when you get back," Morganna waved.

"What are you going to do?" Lucian asked.

"Me? I'm going to go practise some shooting."

"Glad I'm not in the line of fire, are you going to be alright finding your way around?"

"Absolutely fine, I have Jonathan to help me."

"Goodbye Morgan."

Author's note: I'm not so sure about this chapter, but hey, I wrote it, so I have to live with it. Any advice or criticism is greatly appreciated; please feel free to hit the review button at any moment now.

Sorry but I was re-reading this and noticed that I got a few names wrong. Apart from that, nothing else had changed.


	6. Chapter 5

Raging Raven: I'm glad you're still enjoying it. And trust me, I know it was flaky, but I'm hoping its going to get better.

Natalie Roselilly: Thank you for reviewing. I hope you take the time to carry on reading this story, and I hope that I can persuade you that you like this story.

Chapter 5

Jonathan was everything that Morganna predicted he would be. He was an attentive guide, who filled in her silences with his chatting as he led her through the subterranean depths. The angel was glad of the way that the lycan just kept talking about truly random things, but that he kept talking. That was what Morganna wanted and needed. She needed noise and action; she didn't want to be alone to think.

"Here we are Dr, the firing range, well it's not the best, but down here it's just about all we can manage," Jonathan explained rather sheepishly.

"Its fine," Morganna added realising input was needed.

"Are you alright doctor?"

"Please, just call me Morganna, everyone else does."

"Shall I leave you to it?" Jonathan asked, going to leave.

"No, I'll need my guide for when I finish," Morganna called smiling.

So Jonathan settled down, and Morganna and slid out one of her guns. Clicking off the safety the angel took aim carefully at something that had once been a statue, but was now little more than a pile of rubble. She shot a few rounds into the pile of rubble, feeling the gun recoil in her hand. Her aim, as ever, was passable. She could kill something if she wanted to, if she needed to, but that was it.

Once she emptied her clip she sighed, there wasn't any satisfaction in shooting at random objects for her. There was no one else who was shooting with her, unless…Morganna shifted her gaze over to Jonathan, who was sitting quite sedately on the floor, waiting patiently for her to finish. It seemed wrong him, just sitting there alone.

"Come join me," Morganna commanded.

"How? The others don't let me near a gun," Jonathan shrugged.

Morganna frowned at that. If Jonathan had no gun then he had no way of fighting. She resolved to talk about it to Lucian. A lycan could no longer rely on just his brute strength when fighting with vampires. They never had been able to rely on brute strength completely, but in this age, when there were guns that could pick you off before you ever got into close quarters with a vampire, a gun was essential.

"Here take, one of mine," Morganna commanded, tossing a gun to the lycan.

"But won't it get you into trouble?" Jonathan asked, a frown creasing his features.

"I'll deal with that, you need to be armed, I'm not having you getting shot up by the first vampire who sees you."

"Thanks, doctor…err Morganna."

"For a gun? It was nothing; I can always get another one."

"No, for thinking that I should be able to defend myself."

"Everyone should be able to defend themselves, it saves so many lives," Morganna said thinking back to the beginning of the war, and the failed skirmish.

The next few moments were spent educating Jonathan about gunmanship, and everything else that went with it. Eventually Morganna let him shoot the gun. The lycan recoiled with the gun, not expecting the shock, the first time. After a while he became more and more confident, until he could hit the target with most of his shots. At that he turned to Morganna and shot her a smile; she smiled back and nodded her encouragement. The lycan was turning out to be an apt pupil, who learnt everything he was taught quickly.

Although Morganna noticed that there seemed to be a tenseness around Jonathan. She had noticed it when she had first met him, but had been unwilling to ask, since she hardly knew him. Now she knew him a little better, and was living within the same confines as him she decided she would make it her business to know. She didn't care; she liked Jonathan, had liked him since she first met him, and wanted to help.

"Hey Jonathan, know somewhere where we can go chat?" Morganna asked, startling the werewolf.

"What do you want to talk about?" Jonathan asked warily.

"Stuff, I don't know that much about you, and I am curious."

"I'll tell you if you tell me."

"You drive a hard bargain…But…alright, come on let's go."

Jonathan led the way through yet another maze of corridors. This time they emerged into what looked like an underground kitchen, although granted it was dirty. Morganna rested against the counter as Jonathan made them both hot coffee. As she smelt it she remembered she hadn't had anything to eat in a while either, at which point her stomach growled noisily.

"Sorry, it's only me," Morganna admitted when Jonathan looked over at her.

"I'll get you something to eat as well," Jonathan smiled in amusement.

"Would be much appreciated."

So Jonathan fixed Morganna some kind of ham sandwich, and the pair walked through to a small room which looked almost cosy. It still had the same concrete décor as the rest of the subterranean depths, but it had a few comfy chairs in it, a small coffee table, and a stereo and TV. It could almost be classed as a sitting room, only it was missing the sofa.

"I suppose we should start with my life, me being younger," Jonathan said after a while.

"And I am eating," Morganna spoke around a mouthful of her sandwich.

"So I see," Jonathan commented wryly, reminding Morganna of Lucian.

The werewolf seemed to pause for a few moments, as if gathering his thoughts. Lots of emotions flickered across his face, before he sighed. He seemed to be pained, as if he did not know where to begin. Morganna waited patiently, knowing it was not for her to speak first. Eventually the lycan sighed again, heavily before looking up.

"I wasn't born a lycan," Jonathan began, "I was born into the typical family; a housewife for a mother, and a working class father. I was the middle child; I had an older brother and a younger sister. I was pretty much ignored, my sister was pretty and the only girl, and my brother was considered perfect.

But in their way my parents loved me and encouraged me. I left school, and went to university in England; I got into Cambridge of all places! I did my degree in computer sciences and came home to work for a small firm. It was a good job, and paid well.

And then I met this girl, Christina. We hit it off, and well, one thing led to another, and we got engaged. This was all a couple of years ago, before…well before. My parents were pleased, and started to help me buy a house for us to live in.

And then one day, I was kept in late at work, there was some virus or something, I forget what it was now, but that doesn't really matter. These guys just burst in and rounded us all up. They took the girls off, and they…raped them. Us, the men, they kept away.

They bit us all, every single one of us. Mostly we all died, except for me. I woke up to see Lucian and Raze, they had been tracking this rogue lycan element for a while, and this massacre was the straw that broke the camels back. I was brought back and that was it, as far as my normal life was concerned." Jonathan finished with a shrug.

"That's not all though is it?" Morganna asked, sensing the lycan was holding something back.

"After I came down here, I wasn't allowed to contact anyone. But I broke that rule, and I left to go and see my fiancée. As soon as she saw me she screamed and said that she had seen the pictures of my dead body. She said that I was a monster, and so did my parents and my little baby sister." Jonathan finished looking thoroughly dejected.

"And Lucian doesn't know about this?"

"I can't tell him, he'd kill me."

"You should have talked to him, trust me, he knows what you've gone through…what you're going through."

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't heard how the war started?"

"No one tells me anything, I'm just an annoying puppy."

"You're not to me. Anyway, short version of how war started. Lucian fell in love with vampire princess, Viktor's daughter, got her pregnant, Viktor found out, killed daughter, Lucian escaped. Bang, you have a war."

"You talk as if you were there."

"I was believe me I was."

"But you're not a blood, nor are you a lycan."

"You're right there."

"So what are you?"

"I'm a fallen angel, if you want to call it that. I always maintain that I never fell, I was pushed."

"And now we're onto your story."

"Yes we are. I was an angel once, a fully fledged one, with the white wings and everything. I served a god, until he went beyond the gate."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He passed into death, or wherever it is gods go when they have no one else who worships them anymore. And I was the only angel left. I chose to serve another god, for all the good it brought me. I was blamed for some small thing or other, and got banished down to here.

I was found by the Lady Ilona, wife to Lord Viktor, and mother to Lady Sonja, Lucian's lady love. Anyway, it was she who named me Morganna; I have no memory of my old name. I became a slave master under the elders; they thought I was a vampire, just because I had fangs. Soren, the other slave master loved getting into fights with me. He even almost killed me once.

But I survived, when Lucian saved my life. To pay off my debt, I was forced to help Lucian and Sonja conduct their affair. When it was discovered I came under suspicion, but managed to wriggle out of it. After that I joined the lycans side in the war. When Lucian first fought the vampires, even before he faked his death, we lost. And I ran away and hid. That's my story, what little there is," Morganna finished.

"But there's more to it than that."

"What, I ran the length and breadth of the world, and eventually married a string of rich, childless men, who left me all their wealth when they died, and their estates."

"What made you stop?"

"I fell in love with one. Not as husband to wife, but he treated me like a daughter, and I loved him as a father. He married me, not because he wanted to prove he was still a man, but because he wanted someone to keep house for him. In return I inherited his estates after his death. That was all, and then I got lost in the hectic times of the first and second world wars."

Morganna did not tell Jonathan about Vincent. Some things she wanted to be kept private. He had fallen in love with her, as most men did, taken in by her devastating good looks. He loved her last husband as a brother, but her, it was hard to say what he loved her as. Morganna had helped him given him comfort and taken it from him when her husband had died, as a lover would do. But that had ended, and they were like brother and sister, before she had disappeared.

"We've both been through the wars haven't we?" Jonathan asked after a while.

"Me in more sense than one," Morganna shrugged, sipping her coffee.

"But why did you leave Lucian, its obvious you're good friends?" Jonathan asked suddenly, catching Morganna off guard.

Morganna grimaced. She knew the question would come up, but she expected it from Lucian. He hadn't played the guilt card that she had promised to help him in the war. It had come from this lycan, who she barely knew. But they were having a heart to heart, and it was doing her good to get it all out of her system. She was wondering to tell him when Lucian came in, and Morganna had a sneaking suspicion he had been there a while.

"Yes, why did you leave since we were such good friends?" Lucian asked, grinning wolfishly as he knew he had her trapped.

"Private conversation and I don't think you were invited," Morganna smiled sweetly as she tidied up.

"But I think I have a right to know."

"We all have a right to know; it's just for her to choose whether she wants us to know," Jonathan said, earning a growl from Lucian.

"No one asked you," Lucian growled.

"And no one asked you to listen in to a private conversation, but you did," Morganna added.

"Jonathan leave us," Lucian commanded.

"No Jonathan stay," Morganna contradicted Lucian, which earned her a glare.

"Leave now."

"Sorry Morganna, I have to go, Lucian's my leader," Jonathan apologised as he left.

Morganna nodded the Jonathan and smiled, showing him that she didn't mind his show of obedience. It was really her fault for contradicting his orders; she placed both him and Lucian in a delicate position. She was trying to claim power by giving orders, and Lucian chose not to let her have it, like he once would have done. Without question. They had been friends, comrades once, so she wondered what had changed.

"Morganna, I would thank you to respect my position in front of my men," Lucian requested, his anger barely contained.

"So you wish me to be obedient to you? I am no lycan," Morganna answered tartly.

"No, but to contradict my orders…"

"So what, I am to dangle here at your every whim?"

"No, but damn it Morganna, they are MY men!" Lucian finally shouted.

"Yes, that's not the issue at question here," Morganna answered, her voice chillingly cold.

"No, so what is?"

"The fact that you don't trust me."

"After these years you just appear and expect me to trust you?"

"I haven't changed that much Lucian."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"It's not like you haven't changed either Lucian, the one I knew would have trusted his allies."

"I had to change to survive."

"Oh no, it's not like I haven't had to do the exact same thing."

"You haven't had to go underground to…" Lucian trailed off.

"You're very wrong about me Lucian. I haven't changed as much as you would like to think."

"Why don't you prove me wrong then?" Lucian asked stepping forward.

Morganna stepped backward, and again Lucian stepped forward again. Morganna frowned, as she stepped backwards again, and yet again Lucian stepped forward. Suddenly, the angel felt the cool stone wall against her back, and her frown deepened. She looked up to see Lucian was still smiling at her. She went to reach for her gun, but found it was trapped at her back.

"You planned this, you bastard," Morganna couldn't help but smile.

"Of course," Lucian's smile didn't waver for a minute.

Morganna suddenly realised just how close she and Lucian was. She found herself wanting to lean forward and place her lips on him, to stop that damn annoying grin, but controlled herself. Instead she shrank back, pressing her back against the wall until she could go no further. Lucian, seeing that she had no where to go pressed his body in slightly closer.

"Move now," Morganna ordered.

"Or what?" Lucian asked raising his eyebrows.

"Or things might get painful for you."

"In what sense?"

"Whichever one you think would be the most painful for you."

"You wouldn't really hurt me would you?" Lucian enquired, pressing his body slightly closer.

Morganna didn't answer. She simply couldn't. It was doing strange things to her having Lucian so close to her. She was trying very hard to control her breathing, and keep herself in check. She didn't know what it would mean if she didn't, so she was careful. Moaning silently Morganna closed her eyes and titled her head back, exposing her neck, a peace offering to the lycan leader. He could tear her throat out if he chose, but Lucian didn't.

"Why did you leave us Morgan?" Lucian asked again quietly, his voice almost pleading.

"If I could tell you I would, but it might jeopardise everything you have here," Morganna answered, finally looking at Lucian.

Lucian stopped and frowned when he saw how upset Morganna was at him asking her that question again. Or was she sad because she couldn't tell him the answer? Not for the first time Lucian found himself cursing the fact that he knew really very little about the angel, compared to what she knew about him. He had hurt her again with damn questioning, and his inability to trust her. She hadn't changed incredibly much; she was here fighting with him wasn't she? She'd chosen to help, at great personal risk to herself. So Lucian resolved to trust her more, after all it wasn't as if she would turn around and shoot him in the back, was it?

Author's note: Here we are another chapter after a long wait. I am really sorry I made you all wait so long guys, but here it is. I like this chapter a bit better, I hope you do too.


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I only own my own characters, otherwise I don't own them.

Raging Raven: Elfy, I like it. This chapter is especially for you and your suggestion.

Chapter 6

Morganna sat in her room, thinking. It was strange, being in the middle of a war, and yet being kept out of it at exactly the same moment. Lucian wanted to protect her from the vampires, or was it he wanted to keep her a secret? It made perfect sense to the angels. If Soren found out about her, well, it would mean a death. Whether it would be the angel's or the vampire's it was not clear. However, upon reflecting Morganna came to a decision.

"Mine, it would be mine," she muttered to the listening darkness.

Morganna had not been underground long, and yet time had ceased to have any meaning for her. She found herself longing for the sun. It had been the same before the war, when she was supposed to be a vampire. She found herself longing to live beneath the sunlight, to see fields of green grass, to smell fresh summer flowers. And see roses in full bloom. How Morganna loved roses, and yet they had the power to break her heart each and every time she saw one.

Flashback

A young girl with dark black hair and emerald green eyes tottered about on a warm summer's day. She was in a garden, dressed in a simple dress, running around barefoot. All around her flowers bloomed, filling the air with their unnaturally strong perfume. But to the girl it was a delight, she was an angel, and to her this was her heaven, here and now, this sun drenched day, with her in her favourite white dress, and her mother near her.

The girl's mother called to her, and handed her a basket, with a pair of sharp scissors. Now the girl carefully selected blooms of all colours, shapes sizes. But all of them were perfumed with the heaviness of summer. Finally the girl walked through an ivy covered archway, to a garden filled with roses, the angel's mother's favourite flowers. The girl wandered around, adding red roses mottled with pink, pink and white roses, peach and white roses, orange roses, and finally a single red rose.

As she placed the last rose in the basket her finger snagged on an unseen thorn, and a single drop of scarlet welled at the top of her finger. Tears welled in the girl's eyes, threatening to spill over onto her cheeks. But her mother appeared soon, and was there. Her mother wrapped a snowy white handkerchief around the cut, the white being stained by the scarlet. All the while her mother whispered soothing words to her, calling her brave angel and other endearments. But all that was a simple memory now.

End Flashback

In her memories that little girl never had a name. It had long ago been forgotten. As had her mother. Now all that existed was the memory of a shape, a voice. And the smell of roses. Always it had been roses, and always it would be roses. Morganna found herself longing for that rose garden, back in a time when everything had been simple. And there was her mother there, always with her, to care for her and cherish her.

Morganna felt a single tear fall from her eye and wind its way down her cheek. She had not dwelt on her past much over the past few hundred years. The world had changed at an incredible pace, and the angel finally realised what she felt. Tired and drained, she had had to change with the world, and it had exacted a price she was not sure she had been willing to pay. Now she was ready to slow down and yet the world pass her by.

She knew that was what she should be feeling, as an angel. She had watched her mother go through it, withdrawing more from the things she had loved. Passing through the gates with her god, with Morganna's god. Morganna had lived on, feeling the pull of life. Now she was feeling the pull of tiredness. She was young for an angel, and yet she felt as if her life had run. Perhaps the feeling would pass, as it had before.

Perhaps it would not. The angel felt the chill presence of death near her; she had felt it ever since she had entered the mortal world. Here she had watched passions play out and come to their end. Here she had seen heartbreak and laughter, sadness, tears, happiness and smiles. Yet always would she see death. Sometimes, when she was at her lowest she would call for Death, and yet it never would.

Flashback

Morganna stood at a large glass window. She rested a small pale hand against the glass, an invention that had come about only a century of two before. But Morganna cared nothing for this, or any of the other inventions, and especially not the factories and cities. They sullied the pure air, and covered what once had been pure green fields that Morganna had once been able to enjoy. Once.

Now she was a woman with money and titles. Why, wasn't it just the other day that her husband had passed on, leaving her his title and his money? He had had no family left alive that was why Morganna had married him. Was this why Morganna's face, reflected in the glass seemed pale and scared, her eyes reflecting like luminous gems in the gas light. No that was not it, hadn't Morganna done what every other young rich woman would do? Marry for more wealth and prestige. But not for love.

She had not wanted to be like that, at first. She had appeared, penniless, with nothing to recommend her but her beauty. How men had become attracted to her by her beauty. She had learnt to use it and her money as lures for more men. More men to loose in her snare. Morganna now had enough money, land and titles to retire from it all. And yet something stopped her from retiring.

She was tired of it all, true. Her beauty never seemed to fade, she never seemed to age, and yet her life was beginning to tarnish. What she had once thought would bring her all the comforts and peace she needed brought her nothing but a bitter taste in her mouth when she looked at the men she was supposed to love, even if only for their money, but she did not love them, she felt nothing for them, because she was countless ages older than them.

Her heart had been given to another, against her will, but still it was given. That was the reason she would never settle for a peaceful life. Because she would always be haunted by him. Perhaps travelling all over the world would make her forget him, he was supposed to be dead. If she was busy she thought less about him, although she would think about him, always she would think about him. And as she stared out into the inky blackness over the city, punctuated by gas lights she thought of him.

"Lucian," she whispered, finally letting tears and sorrow show on her visage.

End Flashback

Morganna squeezed her eyes shut tight, unwilling to let another tear fall. She didn't want to cry anymore. Not for the little girl in the rose garden, who had grown so old and jaded by life, not for her mother, not for her father, not for the passing of her god. Not for anything anymore. Not even Lucian. It seemed to Morganna that he would never feel the same way about her as she did for him, so why torture herself over it.

"Why indeed?" Morganna asked herself.

Because love is never rational, Morganna's inner voice rationalised for her. Morganna grabbed her hair at the roots with both of her hands and moaned. This was going to be one hell of a lot harder than she had first thought. She wasn't expecting one of the black moods she often had to hit here. She didn't want to be here, in this dank concrete room. She had never even wanted to be on the damn mortal world!

Morganna did what she had so often done, squashed her sadness deep inside of her, and let it turn to white hot rage. She was angry that she was here, in the middle of a war that she wasn't allowed to fight in. She was no wilting flower to be kept out of the fighting. SHE was an angel warrior, and that meant more than anyone knew. She was a more skilled fighter than the lycan rabble she had seen, even than the death dealers.

All of the other angels when she had lost her god had laughed at her. They had pushed her down to this pitiful existence. The warrior with Morganna was waking, and she was angry. Struggling with herself Morganna felt her teeth extend into fangs. This was her mark as a warrior, not as a vampire. Finally Morganna had to give into the primal rage of her warrior. She broke free, to the surface, and cried Free! Next the warrior simply screamed her rage.

Without warning the angel picked up a single glass vase and threw it hard against a wall. She smiled as she heard the crash. More was what the warrior called for. So she abandoned herself to her every violent whim, until the room looked like nothing it had been before. The angel smiled dangerously as she surveyed her handiwork. Yes it was better, much better now.

The angel cocked her head as she heard metal bolts scraping. Of course they would be coming to see what had happened to Morganna. Poor little Morganna, who didn't know what to do about the lycan leader. But this wasn't Morganna, this was the warrior that was passed down from child to child, it was the essence of the original angel that every smaller angel inherited on their coming of age, when they drank from the cup.

"Morganna?" It was the lycan Morganna knew as Jonathan asked, "Are you alright?"

"I am not Morganna," was the angel's answer as she turned her head, her green eyes glittering.

"Get Raze," Lucian commanded Jonathan.

"Yes Jonathan, go and get Raze," Morganna repeated what Lucian had said, her tone mocking.

"Her eyes," Jonathan commented.

"You mean you've never noticed them before?" Morganna asked.

"They're glowing Morganna," the young werewolf shifted uneasily, he was weak, the angel summarised, she could smell the fear on him.

"Jonathan, Raze, now!" Lucian commanded.

"Right, Raze," Jonathan nodded, before running off.

When Jonathan had left Lucian looked to Morganna properly. Well at least she still looked like Morganna. But the thing that was controlling her now has said she was not the angel. Well, at least, for the moment anyway, Lucian was assuming it was a she. Whatever had happened Morganna had suddenly gained an enormous amount of strength, she had managed to toss her bed halfway across the room, something the real Morganna never would have wanted to do, let alone accomplish. Lucian looked to her eyes, to see they were indeed gleaming green, and she had developed a perfect pair of fangs. It was easy to suppose if you saw her like this that she was a vampire.

"Who are you?" Lucian asked.

"I am not Morganna," the angel repeated herself.

"Please don't insult my intelligence, I remember you saying."

"But I am part of her."

"I can see why the vampires took you to be one of them."

"Why would I be one of those base creatures who lust for blood?"

"Why indeed. But how did you come to being if you are part of Morganna."

"I became a part of her when she came of age."

"How did you become a part of her, she wouldn't let something like you take control of her, or become a part of her?"

"I will let you ask Morganna herself wolf, I grow tired of games, where is your warrior?" Morganna demanded, suddenly changing her position so she was behind Lucian.

"What makes you think I need a warrior to protect me?" Lucian asked, not turning.

"You wouldn't be calling this…Raze, otherwise."

"No, I'm going to need Raze to get you under control."

"Why don't you try it yourself?"

"Don't tempt me." Lucian growled.

In answer the angel just laughed, as Lucian turned suddenly. When he regained his balance the wolf saw that the damn woman had changed her position again. This was going to get tiresome, Lucian thought to himself, getting ready to turn around again. But the angel was too quick for him, and soon had him pinned up against one of the concrete walls, his feet dangling away from the floor. Damn but she's strong now, Lucian thought to himself as he tried, and failed to escape.

"I know you of old wolf," the angel murmured almost against Lucian's throat.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lucian enquired, puzzled.

"I share her thoughts, and know her feelings."

"Interesting, I don't suppose you'd be willing to share any insights, as Morganna herself seems unable to?"

"Why would I want to do that, they're not my feelings."

At that moment the angel was lifted off, and Lucian was able to drop to the floor, gasping for breath, as Morganna, or the Morganna thing, had not been too gentle with him. Raze was now holding her, although she was struggling, hissing as no one had ever seen Morganna do. She seemed enraged, scratching away at Raze, who seemed immune to the wounds, although blood welled up. Lucian grimaced as he realised how deep the angel was cutting.

"Raze, hold her still," Lucian commanded as Morganna continued her struggling.

Raze did his best as Lucian stepped up to the pair. Taking Morganna's head he turned it gently but forcefully, until it faced him. Gazing into her emerald eyes he didn't see Morganna. All he saw was glowing eyes. The angle started laughing, and Lucian realised that he had allowed disgust to show on his face; this wasn't Morganna, this was something else that was part of her. Still holding her face Lucian smiled apologetically, to which the angel looked puzzled.

"Sorry about this Morganna," Lucian shook his head, as he brought his free hand up and smacked Morganna in the nose.

As soon as he had done that the angel went limp in Raze's arms. The lycan readjusted his grip before tossing Morganna over one shoulder, as if she was no more than a doll. She reminded Lucian of a doll, now that she was passed out, her limbs were hanging uselessly. As the leader looked down at his hands he saw blood. He remembered the satisfying crunch, as he had broken the angel's nose. If Morganna had had no real reason to be mad at him before she would be now.

"Take her somewhere and keep her safe, send someone to me when she waked up," Lucian ordered Raze.

As he was left alone the lycan leader thought on what Morganna would say when she woke up. It would almost be enough to make her truly angry. She had been right when she had said that Lucian no longer trusted her, but who would trust someone like that?! Morganna might walk out of the war altogether if Lucian was not careful, and he had the feeling she would. So why, if Lucian wasn't willing to trust her, had he asked her to help HIM? She hadn't been willing to help at first; Lucian had had to persuade her.

"If only I knew," Lucian murmured to himself thoughtfully.

If Lucian allowed himself to be truthful, it was because he had missed Morganna. She was a link to a past that he had lost, to something he should have had, and yet had been denied. Besides, the angel was a good fighter, and tactician, who had helped Lucian plan his first skirmishes against the vampires. Also she had managed to keep everyone's moral up with jokes, and simple compliments. And her eyes, they were so unusual, and yet strangely captivating…

Author's note: Oooooo, things get interesting. Okay, here we are again, another chapter. I would appreciate if you took the time to review, but you don't have to. And don't worry, everything about angels will be revealed next chapter.


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own only the original characters, and the parts of the storyline that is filled in using my artistic licence, and common sense. However, the angels and their coming of age ceremony is all mine.

Blazing Comet: I'm glad you enjoyed it. I suppose I haven't really looked at things like that. I try to keep the characters true to the film, but I might be failing, so if I am forgive me.

Chapter 7

Morganna stood in a large hall that she remembered well. It was the hall of angels, which was only opened when angels came of age. It was made of white marble, with golden veins that seemed to give off light. The heavy oak doors with gold studding and hinges stood thrown open, showing the azure sky and clouds outside. There was comforting about this place, it was cold and grandiose, meant to show power.

There was a crowd of older angels standing and seated around the circular hall, and yet a path had been left clear up to a marble altar, carved with pictures of angels, battling, and paying homage to gods. Soon the younger angels entered, flushed with the pride of completing their trials. Now they could stand by the great altar, and be accepted into the ranks of the other angels, it was time for them to come of age.

Two stone angels were either side of the altar. One was female and dressed in long flowing robes, clasping a broom, the symbol of the home and the other was male, a warrior, who clasped a long, sharp metal blade. Behind them was a third angel. This one was dressed in a cloak, with a cowl that hid its face deep within its depths. This one clasped a chalice which seemed to be made of a crystal which changed colour and hue, it seemed all the colours in the world were trapped within its midst.

The first young angel stepped up. He was dressed in white, like every angel there. His hair was like spun gold, and his eyes were a crystal blue. He stepped up towards the altar, but stopped suddenly, as if an invisible hand stopped him. After a few moments pause, the boy nodded. He stepped forward, and took the sword, before passing it over the cup, before placing the sword back. He then lifted the cup, drinking from it, and passing through another set of doors.

Every single other angel did this, until only a single girl was left. She was dressed in the same shimmering white dress, as the other girls had been. And yet unusually the girl had black hair. She stepped forward, and stopped before the invisible barrier. And here, Morganna heard the voice that whispered to the child, as it had to her when she came of age.

"Choose the tool of your life, young one, choose the one that calls to you, and then drink in the essence of the firstborn angel who was protector or mother," the voice commanded.

The dark haired girl nodded, stepping forward. Without a pause she walked forward and lifted the broom. She performed the same operation as the boys and girls had before her. But as she placed the broom back, the marble hands clamped shut around it suddenly, making the girl start. Regaining her composure the girl went to take the chalice, but found she was unable to. The girl pulled and tugged for a while, until with tear filled eyes she turned and went to walk away.

"You must take the tool which calls to you the most," the voice spoke again.

The girl turned again at this, and looked at the sword worriedly. She seemed to be fighting some internal battle. She stepped forward to take the broom again, but the marble hands of the mother had closed tightly around it. The girl frowned, and turned again, looking for guidance. The girl locked her emerald green eyes with Morganna's, and Morganna realised that this was HER coming of age she was seeing. This was a memory. Knowing what needed to be done, Morganna nodded to her younger self, in answer to the question in her eyes.

"Listen to your older self, you will become her one day," the voice intoned heavily.

The child turned then, and collected her resolve. As Morganna watched the angel's hands reach out for the sword, she remembered what it had felt like there, so alone, having made the wrong choice. She was a warrior through and through. The girl took the sword down, and passed it over the cup, before drinking, and exiting the same way as every other angel had done.

Suddenly, Morganna was transported away from the Hall of Angels. She was taken to a different one, but this was a parody of the first. Everything was in black marble, with silver veining. There were the two marble statues, this time the female was holding the sword. Morganna stepped forward, puzzled by this. Hearing the rustling of skirts Morganna looked down to see she was wearing a black dress, the exact copy of the white one she had worn as a child.

Stepping forward Morganna knew what she had to do. She took the sword from the female, and passed it over the chalice that rested in the hooded angel's cup, and then she drank. Before she could place the chalice back, she dropped it, as stabbing pains hit her. Morganna dropped to the floor, writhing in agony.

As she lay there, twisting and turning, her mouth open, and a wordless, soundless scream pouring out of her mouth Morganna was aware of the liquid from the chalice surrounding her, covering her with its silken grace. It poured into her, until she was sure she was going to drown in it, either that or be ripped apart from the inside with the pains that gripped her so tightly.

"I am the All Mother. I came to you as the warrior, and you betrayed me, you do not acknowledge me that is why I have control of you. If you had accepted my gifts, they would have become a part of you, without taking over you. The powers that belong to you have not been claimed by you, so belong to ME," a harsh whispering voice reached Morganna through all the pain.

"Please make it stop," Morganna begged.

"No one can make it stop but you, Lailah," the voice sounded, the same voice that every angel heard at their coming of age ceremony.

Morganna realised that the voice had used the name that she thought had been lost to the ages. She puzzled, but suddenly was racked by an even worse pain than before. Morganna knew she was going to die, and suddenly wondered what the point of fighting was anymore. So slowly she relaxed, and eventually the pains lessened, until Morganna was able to open her eyes, and stand.

Again the fallen angel had changed places. Here was a roaring fireplace, with two comfortable chairs, and a small table with a teapot, and tea cups. Morganna sat down in one of the chairs, and saw the figure from the third carving. It still wore its hood, and yet, it moved, as if it were alive. Morganna knew that the statues had been modelled on real life subjects, but had no idea that she would ever meet one.

"I had a feeling we would meet Lailah," the voice from within the hood said.

Morganna frowned at that. Names had power, and now she had her old name back, should she not feel that it was hers? But she did not; it did not fit her anymore. She was not an angel warrior, enlightened with fire burning in her eyes. Her true name was Morganna, or it was the name that she used now, it had a meaning to her. It was what she answered to. Lailah, that long forgotten name was not her, it belonged to an angel, not a fallen angel who belonged on earth, in the middle of a raging war.

"It is Morganna now," Morganna answered the stranger.

"Or is it Morgan?" the voice asked, "As he calls you?"

"My friends may call me Morgan," Morgan answered, a blush on her cheeks as Lucian was mentioned.

"That is not an answer. What do you wish me to call you?"

"Morganna, for you are not my friend, for how can someone who I am descended from be my friend?"

"Family members can be friends."

"But can anyone who is not on your level be your friend?" Morganna challenged.

"I see you know I created the All Mother and All Father," the voice said thoughtfully.

"Yes, I do."

"Many do not, my dear, I am the forgotten one, which is well. As it is well that the All Mother is forgotten as a warrior."

"Why is that?"

"Because as a warrior the All Mother does not seek to protect, just to dominate."

"So I am the All Mother as warrior?" Morganna asked, sounding worried.

"Indeed you are, but you are not as she, you are an individual, as she was."

"So there are two parts to the All Mother and the same for the All Father?"

"Indeed, you are observant young one."

"To be fair, I think I hardly count as young any more."

"When you are my age, a century seems but a mere day…"

"So why am I here?"

"You need to find yourself, and decide who you are," the voice answered.

"But I know who I am; I am Morganna, the fallen angel."

"Would you give it all up though, to be a true angel again?"

"I do not know," Morganna answered truthfully.

"Come, let me show you something which may help you decide," the cloaked figure levered itself to its feet, and led Morganna to a wall covered with cloth.

As the cloth pulled away Morganna gasped. It seemed to be a mirror, and yet the image it was reflecting was not her as she was. She carried a long sword, the same sword as the All Mother had held in the black marble hall. She was dressed in a shimmering gold tunic, and all around her angels were bowing, angels she remembered as the ones who pushed her, who banished her from that world. She knew if she said yes that she would be able to crush those who wronged her.

Yet Morganna felt sad. This was not what she wanted to be. She would be feared; perhaps even she would be worshipped, and raised to the level of a goddess. But what about love and friendship? Morganna thought of Jonathan, the werewolf who seemed so like a child, even though he was a grown man. And Lucian, she loved Lucian, although he may never reciprocate. Could she go without seeing Lucian, even if he didn't return her feelings? Morganna smiled at the angel in the mirror, and turned away.

"That would be Lailah, if she were to be returned to you. But she won't, because I am Morganna, and I choose friendship above power," Morganna answered.

"You will come to regret this," the voice hissed.

"How so, how can you make me regret not giving up my friends? Not for power, not for anything that you could give me here in heaven."

"He will never love you."

"Be that as it may, I love him, and I have been without him for hundreds of years, and it almost killed me. I will not follow the path you want for me. I am Morganna, the fallen angel, who is beyond the calling of any god or goddess, who is free to make her own choices. That is everything to me."

"You choose to die!"

"You cannot harm me. I am your child. In the legends to kill me would be to wound you, perhaps even kill you. And the war I will be going back to, I may die, but I have friends who will protect me, and if needs be, die for me."

The cloaked figure shrieked its rage, before pushing Morganna down into a pit of never ending blackness…

Author's note: Sorry if things got a bit confusing folks. Next chapter I'll be explaining the history of the angels as I think it is. I'm sorry in advance if it doesn't fit in with anyone's beliefs, but it is FICTION, I stress that now, and will stress that again.


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I'm not going to bother with one of these anymore, because I think we all know that I don't really own Underworld, or any of the characters in the story.

Aureliasilver: Thanks for your review. I wanted an unusual main character, so I thought I'd use a fallen angel. Don't worry Selene and Michael will be in it, just a bit later on, I'm trying to run this alongside the film, although with more from the lycans point of view.

Blazing Comet: Glad you're still enjoying this story, and I would love to hear your definition of freaky.

Chapter 8

Morganna groaned as she came back into consciousness. She was aware of a dull ache in her shoulders, and that her hands were suspended above her. Moving her wrists she heard the clanking of metal wrist cuffs, and summarised that her arms had been tied up above her. Next the angel became aware of a dull throbbing ache in her head. There was also what felt like blood on her lips. Tentatively Morganna snaked her tongue out and licked the substance, before she discovered it was blood.

Curious now Morganna opened her eyes, almost to shut them again almost immediately. Her eyes had been accustomed to the dull surroundings of the black Hall, and the rooms where she had met the sire of the angels. Now they were startled by the sharp lights that came with fluorescent strip lighting. After a few moments Morganna again opened her eyes a fraction, allowing them to adjust before she opened them fully.

The angel saw she was in a room. There were a few chairs, but they were metal. The whole box of a room was tiled, with yet another steel door. The once clinically white tiles were dulled with age, and smeared with blood. Morganna shivered as she saw instruments of torture. Finally, sitting in one of the chairs was a sleeping lycan.

It finally hit Morganna. She was chained up in a room. She had been chained up by Lucian, who had made her bleed, and yet again been the cause of a headache. Now Morganna was mad, and she knew she had every right to be. Brought down to this place against her will, practically kept here as a slave, and oh yes, now she was chained to a wall. Scowling Morganna began to hatch a plan.

Morganna was satisfied when she saw that the lycan had keys. Silly lycan, falling asleep on his post when there was a supposedly dangerous woman on the loose. Ah well, it was to her advantage. Concentrating Morganna lifted the keys, using telekinesis of course, and caught them in her hands. Next she unfolded her wings, and jumped until she was hovering a few feet off the ground, taking the strain off of her shoulders.

A few minutes later Morganna dropped to the floor, and folded her wings back up. Rubbing her wrists to get some circulation back in them, she kicked the lycan, who woke up. He seemed to start, scared that someone who was chained up was now walking around. Morganna smiled as she tossed the keys in her lap. Seeing a cabinet that held guns Morganna walked over to it, and recognised her guns.

There was also a cabinet underneath, that Morganna resolved to examine in a few moments. Before she could do anything else though she heard the door open. Spinning around suddenly the angel made a headlong dash for the door, but failed. The door slammed in her face, and Morganna heard the locks scrape, before she heard the lycan walk off.

Muttering darkly Morganna walked over to the weapons cabinet. As she opened it, she was glad to see that it was not locked. Point one against Lucian and the other lycans, leave her alone in a room in which there were her weapons which were unlocked, unless of course you wanted her to have them. Holstering them Morganna decided to examine the contents of the cupboard.

Her smile widened even more as she saw a backpack that she recognised all too well. Pulling it out and unzipping it she pulled out two clips of silver bullets. After all, she wasn't planning on killing anything, just making a very important point. Next the angel changed the ammunition in her guns to the silver bullets. Immediately she holstered one at her back, and the other she held.

Once she had finished preparing Morganna sat down cross legged on the floor. She knew someone would be along in a minute, and she was so hoping it would be Lucian. It would be satisfying after all that he had done to her to proceed with what she was planning. This time it would be Morganna who was in control of her anger, not some domineering angel.

Morganna heard voices, and stood as the lock in the door grated open. It felt like a few moments were dragging out into hours, they were playing out so slowly. Once the door was unlocked nothing moved it seemed that the lycans were waiting for Morganna to rush out, venting her fury. But the fallen angel had learnt patience long ago, and now she was playing a waiting game that she was ready to finish.

The seconds ticked by, and Morganna began to feel a little of her patience ebb away. She was itching to shoot, but that would let people know she was armed, and she would hate that. Her anger was not going to control her, she was determined about that, and yet it wanted her to do something, not just stand, waiting patiently.

Eventually the door opened…

A single figure stepped into the doorway, blocking from view anyone else. Morganna smiled at Lucian, who gave her a look of puzzlement. Sighting down the gun Morganna let off a single shot, right into Lucian's shoulder. The werewolf winced slightly, a look of pain flickering across his face. It was soon replaced with a look of exasperation at the angel, who had holstered her gun by now.

"A little childish wasn't it Morganna?" Lucian asked, using the angel's full name.

"You broke my nose," Morganna answered, a small smile replacing the large one.

"You owe me an explanation."

"You broke my nose."

"Yes, I did, and you owe me and explanation."

"Maybe I do, but you owe me an apology first."

"Do you really need one?"

"Yes, you broke my nose?"

"I didn't think you'd be able to tell."

"I'm not stupid, and I do have powers of recollection."

"But you said it wasn't you."

"This is where we get to the explanation which you get after I get an apology, and maybe a cup of coffee."

"I'm sorry, but what else did you expect me to do?"

"Now the coffee." Morganna teased.

A few minutes later saw Morganna perching on a workbench somewhere, sipping coffee from a chipped mug. It wasn't the ideal picture, but it was comfortable enough for Morganna, who knew things might get one hell of a lot worse. Lucian was looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to start. The angel knew it would take her a while to get the courage up enough to talk about it. And until then she was painfully aware that Lucian had a silver bullet in his shoulder, one that she had put there.

"You're hurt," Morganna commentated.

"Its nothing," Lucian shrugged.

"Aren't you going to do anything about it?"

"Later, maybe."

"I still think that you need an explanation."

"I am due one."

"Well, the woman you met was the All Mother. She was created alongside the All Father, created by the progenitor of the angel race. They are the mother and the father to the rest of the angels. Anyway, when an angel comes of age it is customary for them to take in part of either the All Mother or the All Father, depending on whom you are.

I was different from all the other girls. I had to take the aspect of the All Mother as warrior into me, that in itself happens so rarely. I denied that the All Mother was part of me, so she was able to exist as the All Mother inside of me. I had a choice to make, and I made it, part of the All Mother's strength as a warrior is in me, and I have to accept that otherwise it will kill me."

"So that madwoman we met before, she's inside of you?" Lucian asked eventually.

"Not in the sense you seem to think she is."

"Damn it Morganna, that woman was mad!"

"What the hell do you expect me to do? Kill myself by denying that I am a warrior?!" Morganna demanded.

"You're a liability if you're like that!" Lucian shouted at Morganna.

"Is that what you think?" Morganna asked quietly, taken aback.

"Morganna, I didn't mean it like that," Lucian pleaded.

"No Lucian you did," Morganna answered, before walking out the door.

"Morganna!" Lucian called after the angel.

"Leave me alone," Morganna answered so quietly, and yet Lucian could hear every word.

Morganna made her way back to the room where she had stayed. She wouldn't call it her room; it would make it hurt more that she had to leave. Lucian had made it clear he no longer wanted her in his life, and she would respect that. Packing her bags Morganna was methodical, not forgetting one thing. Finally when everything was packed the angel added her guns to the backpack, where she was going she wouldn't need them.

Slowly, burdened by all her bags Morganna made her way towards the exit. No one went to stop her, no one came running after her, begging and pleading her to stop. Morganna was carrying her precious experiments with her, the ones that could save the life of the lycans if it came to it. And yet she didn't care. That was her work, it was hers to take, and she owed the lycans nothing.

Making her way onto the streets Morganna looked at the rain clouds that obscured the sun. They marked well what she felt. Now Morganna let herself cry, silent tears slipping out from the corners of her eyes as she slowly made her way back to her apartment and her car. She would leave here; there was nothing left for her here. Not now…

Author's note: Well I've finished another chapter for you all. However, I'm not so sure about this chapter, so it may be up for a rewrite eventually.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

A few hours later Morganna was sitting in a café in a down and out part of town. It well fitted her mood, it looked like it had seen better days, and so had the angel. It was all over for her now, everything. It was leaving a bitter taste in her mouth, almost as bitter as the coffee she was now swallowing, trying just to forget for one moment what had happened. She had nowhere else to go now.

Morganna's eyes flicked back to her phone. She had his number, she just had to call it, and say she would be coming home. Or perhaps ask, since she had left without another word. It was harder than she first thought it would be to pick up the phone. Perhaps it would be that she was finally swallowing her pride, and admitting that she was wrong.

Or perhaps it was the knowledge that she was leaving Lucian, this time for good. The angel had absolutely no illusions that she had seen Lucian for the last time. Even if he managed to survive the war, and escape the victor, then the angel knew she still wouldn't go back to him. It was bad enough that she loved him without him knowing it, yet for him to throw her away and hurt her like that. No Morganna was not going back to a war that wasn't hers.

Morganna remembered Sonja as she had been when she was alive. And then the angel compared her to the charred corpse she had become. Was that what it meant, death? That someone was so altered by it, that their soul had flown, but their body remained. Morganna had never understood death, it puzzled her, she had seen people pass beyond the gate, but had never seen bodies without souls, without the things that made them unique.

Morganna no longer wanted to know, no longer wanted to care. So she nursed her coffee cup, and swallowed more of the bitter liquid, allowing it to hum through her veins, waking her up from this tired legarthy that she had settled into, this path of remembrance that her mind had set her on, and the one way she didn't want to go.

So Morganna didn't, she just drank more coffee. And then later she moved to a restaurant to have a meal, to help her think more clearly. As soon as she entered she wished she hadn't, all the angel could see were couples sitting together. So Morganna secreted herself into a corner and sat, eating alone and quickly. Finally Morganna paid her bill and left.

Her last stop was a bar. The angel thought of how silly this was, as she would be driving out of town in a few hours, she wanted to escape that night, before midnight, before everything happened. Morganna knew it was a full moon, and thought of Michael, doomed to be a lycan in a war he never even dreamt of, let alone wanted to take part in.

So Morganna sat, nursing a single glass of red wine. The whole entire bar was empty, it was early yet, and there were only a few dedicated drinkers, and Morganna. Looking at the drunks the angel felt that if she thought that alcohol was the only way to solve her problems then she would end up like the other drunkards sitting in the room.

Morganna's eyes again flickered down to her phone. The number was still there, black against the white of the screen. The bar maid, who was a kindly middle aged woman, came over and tried to engage Morganna in conversation, but the angel didn't hear her. The bar maid just carried on talking, drying the glasses with a rag that she kept behind the bar.

"Just make the call honey," the bar maid eventually said kindly.

This filtered to Morganna, numbed as she was by pain and memories. The woman was telling her to pick up the phone and ask to go home. Puzzled now Morganna looked up to see the barmaid still smiling at her, even though the angel was looking at her with a bemused and puzzled look on her face.

"Make the call honey, go home if you can. I didn't and now look at me, a down and out. I should have called my dad and asked him to come and get me, but I didn't, I was too proud. Now I have a drunkard husband, and one kid I have to work two jobs just to keep. Just make the call." The barmaid explained.

"Thank you," Morganna answered.

"I don't want to see another young thing end up like me," the barmaid waved down Morganna's thanks.

Morganna nodded, and drained her glass. Thanking the maid the angel reached into her pockets and dug out some money for the waitress, who tried to wave it down. But Morganna pressed it on her, and eventually the maid accepted. As she left the angel thought of the bar maid, and how she had human contact, not in the way she wanted it, but still contact. That was what Morganna wanted at the moment more than anything.

That was why; as Morganna slid behind the wheel of the car she made the call. As she heard the ringing Morganna felt tears come to her eyes. All she wanted was the contact she had had, and had thrown away. She had been loved, perhaps not in the way that she craved, but still she had been loved. And at that moment that was all that mattered to Morganna, that someone would soothe her, and hold her as she cried.

"Hello?" his voice sounded at the other end of the line.

"It's me, Morganna," Morganna answered.

"It has been a long time."

"I know it has, but I have a question."

"Fire away."

"Can I come home please?" Morganna finally allowed herself to ask.

"What made you think you needed to ask, my doors are always open to you."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you for talking to me, it can't have been easy. I'll see you when you get home," the voice said before hanging up.

Morganna closed her eyes in happiness and smiled. She was finally going back to the place where she had been happiest, where nothing bad was allowed to intrude upon her life. It felt like nothing could go wrong and yet then that fragile happiness had been shattered, and perhaps Morganna had run partly out of fear that she would loose all the happiness that she had had there.

How fragile happiness seemed to Morganna. She had seen it so often shattered around her, and often it was her own falling to the ground like shards from a broken window. Morganna sighed and rummaged around in her handbag for her keys, dropping her phone into it securely. Carelessly she tossed it onto her back seat, before turning back.

The angel jumped as someone opened the door and sat down in the passenger seat. She turned with a frown, and was about to answer with a sharp word, cursing that she didn't have a gun to hand. The frown deepened when she saw it was Jonathan who was sitting, smiling in her car seat, and he had her car keys in his hand.

"Give them back!" Morganna commanded.

"Not until you promise you'll come back," Jonathan jiggled the keys just out of Morganna's reach.

"I'm not coming back; apparently I'm just a liability."

"You know he didn't mean it like that."

"Well then how did he mean it?"

"Honestly? I don't know how he meant it."

"Well then why go back?"

"Morganna, because Viktor is awake, we have Michael, and raze has just gone to bleed Amelia dry, and oh yes, the probability is that Viktor has Singe, and is being told all our plans as we speak."

Morganna blanched when she heard all the reasons that she should go back. So she was expected to fight Viktor and reassure Michael? Hell no, her job wasn't as nursemaid, but neither was it as someone to throw in front of a vampire overlord for use as a meat shield. Jonathan turned to Morganna, who realised she had just thought out loud.

"They'll have the silver nitrate bullets," Jonathan tried as persuasion.

"All the more reason for you to stick clear and come with me," Morganna replied cheerfully, holding her hand out for the keys.

"They'll kill him you know."

"Who?" Morganna asked nonchalantly.

"Lucian, and the others, and it'd be entirely your fault."

"You bastard, you know it's not my fault, it's not MY war!"

"So then why did you fight in it in the beginning?"

"Perhaps to try and right a wrong, I don't know!"

"So why don't you go back and find out what you were fighting for, what you should still be fighting for."

"I hate it when you're right," Morganna admitted finally.

"So you're coming back?" Jonathan asked hopefully.

"I need my keys back first."

"Done."

"And, oh, one more thing."

"What's that?"

"I need directions."

Jonathan began to laugh at that. Morganna joined in after a while. She could see the hilarity in the situation after all. Pulling the sun break down Morganna looked at herself in the mirror. Her nose was no longer broken, she could heal things quicker than most, and little things didn't take that long to heal. Morganna decided to apply a coat of bright red lipstick, before fluffing up her hair.

"Does my skin look suitably pale?" Morganna asked Jonathan.

"Are you going in as a vamp then?" Jonathan asked in disbelief.

"It's the best disguise in the books."

"They'll know I'm not a blood."

"Good, because that will get us in just a bit quicker." Morganna answered.

"What do you mean?" Jonathan asked.

In answer Morganna simply revved the engine and shot off into the streets. Jonathan had to clutch tightly to his seatbelt to stop himself from sliding about in the seat. Morganna listened to the directions that were shouted at her by a frantic Jonathan. A few streets away Morganna killed the engine, and got out.

Walking to the boot she opened it. Finding the backpack she wanted she opened it and pulled out her guns and holstered them. Finding a bundle that she had been looking for Morganna took it out and held it tightly, looking for an alleyway. Jonathan puzzled, followed Morganna into the alleyway, and gasped as Morganna unrolled the bundle to reveal a more vampire like outfit.

"You go and tell me when the vamps are here." Morganna commanded.

"You're really going in as one of them." Jonathan answered.

"Of course, and if you do see any vamps, don't shoot them." Morganna answered, tossing Jonathan a gun.

As Jonathan left Morganna wriggled out of her trousers. She pulled on the first element of her new outfit, black leather trousers which had to be belted up. This was where Morganna added her guns, at her waist, and a small amount of the liquid iron that she had tested on other people. Next the angel wriggled out of her top, and held a corset loosely onto her. It was a deep wine red with a pattern of black beads forming flowers and vines along it.

"Jonathan, come do up my corset," Morganna commanded when the lycan reappeared.

"Some of the vamps are here, but no signs of Viktor yet," Jonathan explained.

"Then we better hurry, we don't have long until Viktor does get here," Morganna replied, pulling on a pair of black high heels, which were pointed to almost knife like sharpness.

"Almost ready," Jonathan answered, holding up the trench coat.

"Let's get going, if you know a back way in?" Morganna asked.

"Let's go." Jonathan answered.

Morganna drew a deep breath as she prepared to enter the Underworld for a third time. The phrase drifted through her head, third time lucky, but Morganna brushed it away, not knowing its real meaning. The pair made their way into the inky darkness of the city, lit by the light of a full moon.

Author's note: Here we are, I hope you all like it. Yes we're getting to the fighting at last. And for those Michael and Selene fans, yes they are going to come into it in the next chapter, I most sincerely promise. Any reviews on what you all think would be much appreciated.


	11. Chapter 10

jenn.leslie: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to end the chapter there, but it just seemed like the natural place to end the chapter. Anyway, yes the plot is even going to carry on after the war, although its not going to be following the Underworld Evolution story, as I don't know that one. Anyway, thanks for reviewing, its always nice to have a new reviewer.

Chapter 10

Morganna and Jason dropped down through a man hole cover, careful to pull it back into place after them. It would look too suspicious to have a car sitting outside a man hole cover that was open. And the vampires were nothing if not meticulous. Morganna felt her teeth elongate at the prospect of a fight, this was going to be interesting.

"Kraven is talking with Lucian, and Soren is probably locked up now the fighting's started," Jonathan explained.

"Good, I have a score to settle with Soren," Morganna turned to Jonathan.

"Shit Morganna, your eyes are glowing again!"

"Don't worry; they'll just help me to see in the dark."

"I'm almost more afraid of you than I am of the prospect of meeting Viktor."

"Like I said, if you do see Viktor…"

"I know, I know, lie down like a good wolf and play dead."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Morganna eventually asked, darting off into the darkness.

The pair quickly wound their way through the labyrinth of tunnels until the found a closed door. Morganna frowned, and went to walk forward to open it, but someone else was already opening the door. Lucian looked puzzled as he saw Morganna, dressed as she was, for war. Morganna quickly saw a dark haired vampire which she recognised as Kraven. The angel simply had a chance to gasp as Lucian fell to the ground.

"Silver nitrate, bet you weren't expecting that," Kraven said to Lucian.

Morganna went to rush forwards, but pulled back when she realised that Kraven hadn't seen her. She drew back into the shadows as the vampire walked past, before rushing to Lucian's side. She lifted his head into her lap, and felt a tear running down her cheek. She brushed a hand over his forehead, then tried for a pulse. There was one, although it was faint beneath her fingertips.

As Jonathan stood watch Morganna pulled out a syringe with the liquid iron in it. Checking it was working she pulled up one of Lucian's sleeves, before she found a vein and injected. Lucian gave an involuntary jerk, and Morganna was hopeful he would survive, although she hoped that if Viktor came along Lucian would have the sense to play dead.

"Jonathan, stay here," Morganna commanded, standing.

"Where are you going?" Jonathan queried.

"To kill some bloods," Morganna hissed as she ran off into the darkness.

Before she had got very far Morganna saw a set of doors open, and Soren beckon his team out. He himself was last, and Morganna ducked back behind a corner, hoping he hadn't seen her. But he had, and he was coming to investigate what he had seen. Morganna stood out and held her gun out pointed at him, and his at her.

"You can't kill me like that, I'm not allergic to most things you could fire," Morganna answered.

"What are you then?" Soren asked.

In answer Morganna flew at him, pinning him against a wall. He dangled, staring disbelievingly at the floor, and then back at the fallen angel, with her large black wings unfurled, and her face contorted into a feral grin.

"I could kill you," Morganna stated simply," but I'm not going to, you wouldn't be worth the bullet."

The angel dropped Soren to the ground, before flipping onto the side of the wall and running along it back to Lucian. She felt pulled there as if by some invisible thread. She wanted to see if the iron had worked, it Lucian were still alive. So back she ran, in time to see Lucian open his eyes, and lift himself painfully.

"It worked," Morganna stated simply, not quite able to believe it.

"You came back," Lucian said.

"I owed it to you at least."

"Morganna?" another male voice shouted.

Morganna walked through to another room to see Michael, she smiled and waved, although when she registered the look on Michael's face she realised how she must look; dressed as he had never seen her, with blood red lips, a gun in her hands, and fangs and glowing eyes. Oh of course Michael now wouldn't ever think she was weird, not at all.

"It's not what you think…" Morganna began to explain.

At that moment Morganna noticed that Michael was struggling with his bonds. The angel went to help him, but froze as she saw a lycan walk in front of the plastic doors. The lycan was in his wolf form, and sometimes lycans like that were unpredictable, especially as Morganna looked like a vampire. She reached for the gun with silver bullets in, just in case.

Some other gun shots went off as Michael struggled to get loose, and blood spattered the plastic. As the beast fell it took some of the plastic with it. It revealed a tall slender black haired woman who Morganna could tell was a vampire. And yet, the woman struck chords within the angel, the vampire reminded her suspiciously of Sonja, the daughter Viktor had killed.

The vampire walked across to the lycan and shot him in the head a few times, before walking over to Michael. Morganna had already regained action, and was shooting one of Michael's chains to free him. The vampire looked over, puzzled at the angel, and a look of, jealousy was it? Flickered over the vampire's face. In answer Morganna held up her hands.

"I have to get you out of here," the woman explained as she helped Michael down, "Viktor's on his way here and he won't be satisfied until every lycan's dead."

"They'd kill you too, just for helping me," Michael said as he stepped down.

"I know," Selene explained.

Morganna looked over at Lucian, careful to hide the pain in her eyes. Still she and the lycan leader could see the parallels with that ill fated romance so long ago, the one that had started this war. Morganna longed to go to Lucian, but felt that would betray him, and she didn't know if the vampire would shoot him on sight or not.

"I know what started the war," Michael explained, "So does Morganna, she was there."

Morganna winced painfully as the vampire turned her eyes onto her. So like Sonja she was, it was almost easy to see why Viktor had turned the woman. Apart from the fact the vampire was here, in the middle of the sewers. That wouldn't have been what Sonja would have wanted, not at all. Although in the end she had planned to leave, with Lucian, so perhaps if things had turned out differently.

The pair left, and Morganna made no move to stop them. She hoped that they would escape, and find some little happiness, as Sonja and Lucian had not been able to. A single tear fell down her cheek as she looked back at Lucian. The look on his face was devastated, it was the same for Michael as it would have been for him. As it should have been for him. However Morganna had no more time to think as Jonathan came running in.

"Viktor's here, and he has just killed Raze," he panted.

"He did what?!" Morganna demanded.

"He's just killed Raze," Jonathan repeated.

Morganna turned away from everyone, truly annoyed now. This war was coming to an end quickly, and perhaps not quite in the way that Lucian hoped. It would be a close run thing if Lucian survived the war now, let alone the other lycans, and Morganna herself. The angel quickly made her decision and walked to Lucian, and gingerly lifted him, supporting his weight with her body.

"Where are we going?" Lucian demanded as Morganna began to walk.

"For once, Kraven had the right idea, and so did Michael and the vampire," Morganna explained, hobbling towards the door.

At that moment Michael and his vampire companion reappeared. Morganna froze, and Jonathan froze behind her. The vampire looked at the angel, then to Lucian, then to Jonathan, and then back to Morganna, who shrugged from underneath Lucian's arm. A few gunshots rang out and Morganna jumped, dropping Lucian to the floor. She saw Kraven standing there, a look of pure hatred on his face, a look of hatred for Michael.

Jonathan had the sense to collapse behind Morganna, as if he had been shot. So that left Morganna and the vampire female still standing. However the vampire female knelt as Michael's side, she could do nothing but watch as the silver nitrate poured through Michael's system much as it had Lucian's. There was no way to stop it unless…

Morganna went to walk forward, but stumbled suddenly as Lucian grabbed her leg. She kicked out as she fell, and managed to slap her hands down onto the hard concrete as she fell. She twisted to face the lycan leader, who motioned for her to wait. So he had a plan after all, although how it was going to involve Michael. In his own way Lucian was telling her to leave well enough alone.

"That's enough, you're coming with me," Kraven commanded, reaching for the vampire, who slapped his arm away.

"I only hope I live long enough to see Viktor choke the life from you," the vampire answered angrily.

"I bet you do. But let me tell you something, about your beloved dark father. He's the one who killed your family, not the lycans. Never could abide by his own rules, said he couldn't stand the taste of livestock. So every once in a while he'd gorge himself on human blood. I kept his secrets, cleaned up the mess, but it was he who crept from room to room, despatching everyone you held close to your heart. But when he got to you he just couldn't bear the thought of draining you dry. You, who reminded him so much of his precious Sonja, the daughter he condemned to death."

"Lies."

"Believe what you want. Now come on, your place is by my side." Kraven held out his hand to the vampire.

Morganna had started to shake as Kraven recounted his tale. She could see it all to clearly, the blood and the mess. She curled in upon herself, crouching with one knee on the cold concrete. An almost soundless scream escaped her mouth as she saw the vampire's memories, Selene's memories of her family. Morganna had never been good at reading people, but now it all came as a rush, the angel had opened herself to her power, and it had opened her up to the world.

"So be it," Kraven said, holding out a gun towards Selene.

Kraven suddenly stopped and looked down as Lucian grabbed his leg. Selene looked from Lucian to Kraven, and then to Michael, who was still writhing in agony on the floor. Kraven also looked down, a smile on his face at the sight of Lucian. Until of course Lucian ran one of his arm blades into Kraven's leg, before breaking it off.

Kraven knelt to the ground in pain, as blood poured from the wound. Morganna looked up to see the blood soaked knife, and then to Lucian, who had collapsed on the floor in pain. Kraven winced in pain, and backhanded Lucian into the wall, knocking him into some canisters, which rocked at the impact. Kraven staggered to his feet, and Lucian looked to Selene, who was looking at him, who then looked back to Michael.

"Bite him," Lucian commanded softly.

Selene looked at Lucian, and a silent communication went on between the two. Morganna was rocking, still in the grips of Selene's memories of that fateful night when her family had died. However she was seeing Viktor creeping through the house. She saw Viktor in the room where the two little girls were, and pleaded for the memories to stop. But they didn't she heard the cruel laugh of the progenitor of the angel race, and knew it was their fault that she was suffering.

Lucian reached out a hand to Morganna, and gently brushed it across her face. The angel pulled back into herself, stunned at the simple contact, and what it had done. She saw Selene sink her fangs into Michael's neck, and watched the look of triumph on Lucian's face, even as Kraven pulled the blade from his leg.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kraven demanded as he stood.

"You may have killed me, cousin. But my will is done regardless," Lucian answered and Kraven lifted his gun.

As Kraven emptied his gun into Lucian's body Morganna jumped as if each shot were hitting her. Finally now Morganna did scream, this was pain, and frustration and anger all poured into one. She stood, and turned to Kraven. As he looked on in shock she lifted him as if he were no more than a doll and threw him back through the door that he had come through, and slammed the door shut after him, locking it securely without ever touching it.

Morganna turned to see Viktor throw Selene against the wall, before bending down to Michael. As Selene watched, tears falling from her eyes, Viktor held Michael in a choke hold. Morganna stepped forward, making Viktor notice her. He glared at her, before sending Michael crashing through the wall. Morganna tried to back away, but Viktor advanced on her, and soon had her pinned against the wall, choking her.

"Where is he, where is Kraven?" Viktor demanded, his grip like an iron vice around Morganna's throat.

"Forgive me my child," Viktor begged, kneeling before Selene, dragging a gasping Morganna with him.

"It wasn't the lycans, it was you," Selene replied.

"Leave us," Viktor commanded his bodyguards, finally letting Morganna drop to the floor, struggling to draw breath.

"How could you bear my trust, knowing that you'd killed my family?" Selene asked of Viktor.

"Yes, I have taken from you," Viktor replied, "But I have given so much more. Is it not a fair trade the life I have given you, the gift of immortality?"

"Just because you are immortal does not mean you cannot die," Morganna panted. In answer Viktor threw her into the wall, where she landed beside Lucian.

"And the life of your daughter, your own flesh and blood?" Selene demanded of her creator.

Viktor did not answer Selene straightaway, instead he walked across to where Lucian was lying, either dead or dying. Looking for the pendant that had been his daughter's Viktor pulled it off Lucian's neck. The look that passed over his face told Morganna that Viktor truly did regret having to kill Sonja. No matter that there might have been ways to save his daughter. But perhaps, in Viktor's eyes, the Lady Sonja had been polluted, was unclean.

"I loved my daughter!" Viktor exclaimed, turning back to Selene, "But the abomination growing in her womb was a betrayal of me and of the covenant. I did what was necessary to protect the species, as I am forced to do yet again." Viktor drew his sword with a flourish after this last sentence.

"No," Selene cried as Viktor walked to where he had thrown Michael through the war.

Morganna frowned as she slowly knelt. Viktor it seemed was looking for Michael, he had been deemed the more immediate problem. The vampire looked around, puzzled as to where the newly created hybrid had gone, and was surprised to see he was there. Morganna stifled a giggle which turned into a cough as the air burnt her crushed windpipe. Michael had been behind Viktor all along.

Viktor turned, and hissed at Michael, his fangs gleaming in the half light. With a feral growl Michael pushed Viktor away, much as the overlord had done to him just a few moments ago. Morganna watched as Michael followed Viktor. The angel wanted to go, but her heart pulled her back as she walked over to see what was happening.

As Selene slowly began to rise, Morganna half dashed back to Lucian. She lifted his head, and frowned as she felt for a pulse. There was still one there, but so faint that Morganna knew she had not got much time. Fumbling for another vial of the liquid iron Morganna sent it spilling out all over the floor. It was Jonathan who handed them to her, and noticed her trembling hand and the tears in her eyes.

"Help him," Selene begged Morganna, pleading with her to save Michael's life.

Morganna suddenly knew what she had been brought into this war for. It was not her time to fight, not this time. She had found where she belonged, and it had been taken from her, it was almost gone, slipping like silk through her fingers. But the angel would clutch at that last little bit. She saw the war for what it was now, what it had been. But she had been too blind to see it, she had been deluded by illusions of grandeur. Smilingly Morganna knelt before Selene, and traced a hand over her cheek.

"It is not my war to fight now," Morganna answered smilingly, gently, "Go help him."

"You really are an angel," Selene breathed.

"A fallen one, but an angel none the less," Morganna nodded, realising her wings were still out.

Hearing gunfire, Jonathan gently walked up to Morganna and tugged at her arm. The lycan was right, she had other people to help now. The angel nodded to Selene as the vampire prepared to jump, to help her lover. And Morganna walked over to Lucian, and knelt over him. Gently now Jonathan handed her a syringe with liquid iron in.

With trembling fingers Morganna inserted a needle for the second time into Lucian's arm. Her fingers then moved to the leader's pulse, hoping that it would strengthen. Morganna lowered her head, her dark hair obscuring her face from view. For the first time in a long while Morganna prayed, truly prayed to her long forgotten god, in the hopes that he would hear her and do some small thing for her.

Eventually Morganna gave up hope. She stood, turning her face away from Jonathan, who was looking at her with an expectant look on his face. The angel walked to the edge, and looked down to see Viktor fall to the ground, his head sliced in half. Once that would have made her laugh, once. Now she just watched as Selene walked to Michael, and the lycans around them backed away, afraid of Michael. The pair looked at Morganna, who just managed a half smile and a nod, even as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"Morganna?" Jonathan asked half disbelievingly.

"What is it?" Morganna turned to face Jonathan, who was kneeling at Lucian's side.

"I know I'm going to end up sounding like Frankenstein, but he's alive!"

"I'll get you for that later," Lucian ground out.

"Lucian, you're still alive?" Morganna asked in shock.

"Of course he is, no thanks to you," Jonathan replied.

"You came back," Lucian repeated from earlier, holding Morganna's gaze in his.

"I owed it to you," Morganna answered, echoing her words from earlier.

"I owe you some thanks, I think, you saved my life, twice," Lucian groaned as Jonathan lifted him.

"Be careful!" the angel chastised the standing lycan, who looked sheepish, before turning to Lucian, "Later, thank me later."

"Morganna," Michael called as he raced in to see the angel helping Jonathan support Lucian.

"Yes, that's me," Morganna answered.

"Where now?" Selene asked as she joined Michael.

"Back to our apartments, we all need to crash and get somewhere before daylight, and then some of us can buy some plane tickets," Morganna answered.

"Plane tickets?" Lucian demanded.

"Our apartments?" Michael asked slightly bemused.

"Let's go, we can discuss it there," Jonathan took charge, seeing Morganna was tired.

So the small group made their way out of the Underworld…

Author's note: here we are, I hope you're all still enjoying this. Here is where my story differs. I haven't seen Underworld evolutions, so I won't be going by that storyline for those of you who are expecting me to, I'm sorry to disappoint.


	12. Chapter 11

**Warning**: This is IMPORTANT!!!!!! I have already said this several times, but for those of you who don't know I'm not going to be following the Underworld Evolution storyline because I haven't seen the film? So I'm hoping you'll take the time to read this, and not be mad because I did warn you. I'll quite understand if you want to stop reading, but that won't mean I won't like it.

jenn.leslie: Glad you enjoyed the ending a bit more, I'll try to remember that you don't like cliff-hangers in the future, although they are sometimes a useful tool to keep people reading.

Hope and love: I'm glad you love it, and hope you keep on enjoying.

Chapter 11

A few hours later the sun rose on the city, oblivious to all the carnage that had gone on the night before. Morganna flinched at the sudden brightness after the night before (which had felt like an eternity) spent almost completely in the dark. Morganna reached across from the chair where she was sitting, and drew across the curtains, which dimmed the light. She had given her blackout curtains to Michael, so Selene could sleep in his apartment.

Sleep was what Morganna most craved. She had survived the night on a mixture of adrenaline and caffeine. Now she was comfortable, warm and clean since she had take a shower the angel was ready to sleep. Instead she was gearing herself up for the job ahead. So she had a mug of coffee in her hands and a shawl wrapped around her, to keep her wet hair from dampening her pyjamas.

Morganna ran a hand over her throat almost unconsciously. Lucian frowned at her from his seat over on the sofa. He had not been pleased when he saw the bruises marring Morganna's neck. He had been even less pleased when he had discovered it had been Viktor. The lycan had muttered something about what he would've done to Viktor if he wasn't dead. Which made Selene remark dryly, in the first thing like humour Morganna had heard, she wondered what Lucian thought he could do in his state.

Now Lucian was still sitting propped up, able now to move around by himself, although it took a lot of effort. When Morganna had got Lucian back to the car she had dosed him again with the liquid iron, and it seemed to help a bit more. The angel was considering dosing Lucian yet again, when Michael joined them. He smiled a bit at Morganna, she looked so content, half dozing.

"I was wondering if I should stick more needles in Lucian," Morganna remarked dryly.

"Thank you for that," Lucian shot back.

"Maybe we should wait?" Michael asked slightly concerned.

"Well I dosed him about two times since he's been shot, and he seems to be getting better, aren't you Lucian?" Morganna asked.

"I suppose so," Lucian muttered.

"Do you really want to risk it?" Michael asked, still unsure.

"Well, Lucian can always shift if things go really wrong, but I don't see how that would cause any real problems," the angel shrugged uncertainly.

"Why does no one ask me?" Lucian complained.

"Because, Lucian, you aren't a nurse by profession, nor do you have a degree in medicine from Cambridge," Morganna answered breezily.

"I still don't think we should do it," Michael expressed his doubts.

"What do you think Lucian?" Morganna turned to the ex lycan leader.

"I think you should," Lucian said after a pause.

Morganna nodded, and uncurled herself from the seat where she had secreted herself, placing the coffee mug on the table. She got out a single pouch, and tossed it at Michael, saying she didn't want to do it just in case she made a mistake, as tired as she felt. Taking another sip of her brew left the angel wondering when the caffeine would kick in and she would feel more herself.

"So what do we do now?" Lucian asked.

"Panic," Jonathan quipped as he emerged from the shower, earning him raised eyebrows from Lucian.

"Jonathan," Morganna said, trying to sound authorative, instead just sounding tired, earning her raised eyebrows from both lycans, and the hybrid.

"You're exhausted Morganna," Jonathan said finally.

"You're telling me," Morganna answered sarcastically before adding, "I'm not going to sleep until we decide what to do."

"Well what are we going to do?" Lucian asked, shifting, rubbing where Michael had just injected him yet again.

"Get plane tickets, and fly somewhere," Morganna spoke over the silence.

"To be quite fair, I'm betting everyone in your apartment, and Michael's haven't left Hungary before," Lucian said quietly.

"Trust me, when we have Marcus breathing down our necks, then you'll want to run," Morganna answered darkly.

"So we're leaving before he finds out where we are?" Michael asked.

"Someone's speaking my language at least."

"Morganna be polite," Lucian chided.

"Yes, but where are we going to go?" Jonathan asked, stopping the argument.

"England," Morganna answered before anyone else could.

"Why England?" Lucian demanded.

"Because I have a friend there who'll protect us as and when Marcus comes knocking," the angel answered.

"I have contacts in America, we could go there," Lucian answered carefully.

"You don't trust my friend?" Morganna asked.

"To be fair no one but you knows him," Michael pointed out.

"So you think either I or he can't be trusted?" Morganna demanded.

"Morgan please, can we try America first?" Lucian asked simply.

"You still don't trust me Lucian," Morganna sighed.

"I didn't mean it like that," the leader answered.

"You never do."

"Are they always like this?" Michael asked Jonathan.

"I would guess so from what I've seen of the pair," Jonathan answered, catching Morganna's eyes.

No one answered Jonathan's comment. The silence hung dead over the room, so thick it seemed you could cut it with a very large, very blunt knife. Michael didn't seem able to read the silence, although the other three knew very well what it was about. Morganna had left Lucian because of another one of these little disagreements. Morganna wondered if she and Lucian were arguing because there was so much unresolved between them, either that or they were both in a way hiding from the past.

"America it is then," the angel answered after a pause.

"We'll get tickets once all of us have had at least some sleep," Jonathan commanded.

"Lucian's not sleeping on the sofa," Morganna automatically opened her mouth.

"So where am I going to sleep?" Lucian asked grinning wickedly.

"Well I have a double bed…" Morganna trailed off blushing.

"My god, the lady's embarrassed!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"Shut up now Jonathan," Morganna was thankful she could hide her blush behind her anger.

"Sleep now all of you," Michael commanded.

"What gave you the right to order us around pup?" Morganna growled.

"My sentiments entirely dear," Lucian agreed.

"Because I'm a nurse," Michael explained.

"I trained as a doctor in Cambridge, I can probably pull rank, but too tired at the moment," Morganna sighed taking another sip of her coffee.

"And no more caffeine, at the rate you're taking it you're going to do yourself some serious damage!" Michael commanded Morganna.

"Yes mommy," Morganna replied sarcastically.

"No more now Morganna," Lucian commanded.

Morganna nodded as she levered herself gingerly to her feet. She was aching in places that she hadn't imagined she would be, especially as she hadn't done any real fighting. However, she had been mind rolled with someone else's memories, and that left her drained if nothing else. All the angel wanted at that moment was her bed and sleep. Opening the door she realised she had never liked the look of her bed so much.

A hand on her arm made her look up to Lucian. She smiled slightly as she noticed how he had staggered over to her himself, without any help. The angel thought of how little really either her nor Lucian had changed really over the years they were apart, either that or their minds were clouded with sentiments and love of the past.

Morganna helped Lucian stagger over to the bed and lie down. As she hung her shawl up she thought to herself how strange it was going to be sleeping with someone in her bed. She was no virgin, but she was a stranger to all the tender things like going to sleep and waking up with the same partner. She couldn't help but feel the irony that she was now going to sleep and wake up next to Lucian, and yet not in the way she was hoping.

Lying down Morganna winced as all her muscles again screamed out in pain at her before finally relaxing. She levered herself onto her side, where she lay looking at Lucian, neither of the pair willing to talk, but neither were they quite willing to give in to the urges of their body. Morganna knew Lucian was tired, his body would need the time when he slept to heal, as she had point blank refused to let him change.

Morganna regarded Lucian through half closed eyes. She could see why her body reacted to him in quite the way that it did, and wish it wouldn't. Too much water had passed under the bridge for there to be a chance for her and Lucian. Or had there been? The angel knew the pair needed to talk, and perhaps… Hope flickered in her heart, the one emotion Morganna hated most, because it so often led someone to false expectations.

"Lucian we need to talk," Morganna spoke quietly.

"Yes we do," Lucian agreed, looking over to Morganna, "But not now Morgan, you look worn out."

Morganna nodded, unable for some reason simply to answer. Sleep was calling her with its seductive call. And yet for some reason she was not quite willing to let sleep claim her yet. Perhaps it was because she was trying to burn an imprint of this on her mind. It was strange, now the war was over, and Viktor dead Morganna felt at least a little less hunted.

"Stop being stubborn and go to sleep," Lucian commanded, brushing Morganna's cheek lightly with the back of his hand.

Morganna smiled, content for the simple contact she had just had. One thing that she had missed was the simple pleasure of strolling hand in hand with someone, embracing them, or the simple pleasure of being touched. She had left that pleasure behind, and now she came to realise just quite how much she had really missed it. The angel thought that the simplest things in life sometimes held the greatest pleasures, and simple truths held the greatest wisdoms.

As she drifted off to sleep Morganna felt herself relaxed, truly relaxed, for the first time in a long while. There would be trouble ahead, but for a while at least, the party were safe. That was something that no amount of money could every pay for. And time would help to heal all of the wounds, and time was something they were all hoping to have together, undead and alive alike.

Finally Morganna felt all thoughts slip from her grasp like water flowing towards its destination. The angel felt herself welcomed and embraced by the soft darkness that sleep brought, and she welcomed it.

Author's note: here we go another chapter. And before you start biting my head off, please read the above notice. Thank you very much. Hope you all enjoyed it, and will keep reading next time. Until then bye bye.


	13. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do think we all know I don't know any of the unoriginal characters in this don't we?

Anghel Ni Kamatayan: Here you are an update. Sorry it took me so long to write, I have massive writer's block on most of my stories. But your review helped give me the motivation to finish this off so thanks.

ThranduilsDaughter: I'm glad you think this is a good story, and its not that I'm not updating it, its just that this has taken me an age to write.

jenn.leslie: I'm glad you think so; it makes all this sweating and fighting a writer's block worthwhile.

Hope and love: I'm glad you enjoyed, I can only hope you stuck around long enough to get this next bit.

Chapter 12

Morganna awoke to see the pinkish light of dawn suffuse the sky. She stood and walked over to the window, watching the sun slowly crawl into the sky. It seemed to bring the hope of a new day. She heard a female mutter a curse, Selene. She had to go back to Michael's apartment, and spend the daylight hours locked away from the beauty that she could only remember from her days as a human.

Morganna sighed, realising she would have to go into her living room, and face everything. However for a few moments it was nice to laze in front of a window and indulge in feeling the first golden rays crawl across skin. It warmed something deep within Morganna, something that she had long locked away, something that she had determined never to unlock. Even when she was at her happiest she had held something back, some part of her that had connected her to her old life, to Lailah, that long forgotten name.

Suddenly Morganna turned away from the window, all thoughts of rest gone from her head. She had slept through a day and a night, and now she felt refreshed and energised, ready to face whatever would come her way. The angel chose a pair of jeans and a black shirt, she knew the reason for the black and it almost made her grimace. The angel had never been one for symbolism and now she was buying into it. But perhaps, she thought, today I need to believe in symbolism, it might help me to leave the past behind me.

Walking into the living room she saw Jonathan reclining on her sofa, talking to someone in the kitchen, who she automatically assumed was Michael. She frowned when Lucian came out of the kitchen and handed her a steaming hot cup of coffee, something she always loved to have to hand in the morning. She still managed to smile her thanks before settling herself down on a chair, her legs curled up underneath her.

"We have plane tickets," Lucian remarked dryly, waiting for Morganna to respond.

"When do we leave?" Morganna enquired.

"What no shouts, not a squeak about how we didn't consult you?" Jonathan asked in shock.

"I trust you," Morganna answered with a shrug.

"Are you sure you're Morganna?" The young werewolf asked.

"Tonight," Lucian cut across the conversation.

Morganna nodded. So sudden! It wasn't as if she wasn't expecting it, although now she was faced with the idea that she would be leaving, perhaps even for good, it came as a bit of a shock. Everything had started here, not just for Morganna, and she had imagined that everything would end here. She had mainly come here to come to terms with her past, before throwing it out of the window as she waved goodbye to it, and Hungary, forever.

"Are you alright Morgan?" Lucian enquired.

"I'm fine," Morganna answered.

"You know we still need to talk."

"Yes we do."

"So why don't we talk now."

"Not here."

"If you're worried about me listening in, I won't be a bother," Jonathan chimed in.

"That's not it, here isn't the right place for it," Morganna answered.

"Then where is?" Lucian asked.

"You'll find out when we get there," Morganna answered, grabbing her keys.

"I take it I'm not invited," Jonathan moaned.

"Not this time I'm afraid," Morganna answered as she walked out the apartment.

Lucian followed as the angel jangled her keys in her hand, somewhat nervously. She didn't know how she herself was going to act, let alone how Lucian was going to react. Yes, the pair both needed to talk about the past, and all their hurts. Perhaps then they could both move on. She had a funny feeling that both she and Lucian were held back by the hurts of the past, and they needed to exorcise their ghosts before they could move on.

The angel stopped outside the vampire's mansion. She killed the engine and slowly got out of the car. Lucian followed her, although the look of distrust on his face spoke volumes to the angel. She could remember a time when there had been a great fortress here, on this very site, and a lonely angel had had to masquerade as a vampire, just to keep herself alive.

Skirting the perimeter fence, Morganna completely ignored the new manor house that now stood tall, proud and ostentatious, much as the vampires had been before everything was ripped out from underneath them. Instead she looked to the grasses, for glimpses of a past, one that had long ago begun to crumble into dust, and yet one that had not even been fully forgotten. Some people still remembered what it was like, that keep where howls of pain were all too common.

As she walked through the unkempt grass Morganna could see the spirits of the dead running through the ruins. Suddenly she seemed to stop in the middle of nowhere. Her feet found a patch of grass where nothing was growing. Puzzled the angel knelt and noticed that rubble had once formed a room. Recreating the castle in her mind Morganna stood and took a step forward, a bed once stood here. For this was the very room that Morganna had lived in all those years ago.

But it puzzled the angel that the charred remains should be here. Had there been a fire everyone would have known about it. And surely, if it had been a single fire, then why had the grass not grown back here, even after all this time. It lay, having grown through the flagstones, charred and black, as if nothing would ever grow there again, not even a single poppy, the hardiest of flowers.

"When such evil is done, can anything truly grow there again without memory of what happened there?" A female voice asked.

"Klara?" Morganna asked looking up to see her one time servant.

"It is me, as I once was."

"What happened here?" Lucian asked as he finally joined Morganna.

"I was burnt alive here, for the treachery of my mistress," Klara answered looking to Morganna.

"You blame me for it," Morganna summarised.

"Not at all, you were afraid, and when you were afraid you act without thinking," Klara retorted.

"I was not afraid!" Morganna exclaimed, angry.

"You were afraid from the moment you ended up here, you were not meant to be here, and you have been running ever since," Klara answered sagely.

"It is time I stopped running and faced my demons," Morganna answered.

"Do you truly think so, little angel?" Klara asked laughing.

"I have not been little for so many years," Morganna replied with a bitter laugh.

"Well then, both of you, you will face your demons here, and you will come to terms with them, or they will kill you, and that will be all that remains of the brave lycan and the lonely angel, so far away from home," Klara answered stepping away.

Morganna controlled her breathing, trying hard not to cry. She had, in the end, hurt everything good in her life at some point or another. And it was because of her that Klara had been burnt. Morganna could hear the crackle of flames, smell the burning wood and skin, and hear the screams. Unable to stand it any longer the angel stumbled back towards the doorway, but found her way blocked by a heavy oak door. As the flames licked around her feet, Morganna simply screamed in fear.

Suddenly she was outside the room again. There was nothing there anymore, and the grass looked no different from the rest. There was no hint of the terrible tragedies that had happened there all those years ago. The sky that day was a brilliant blue, with white cotton clouds. Morganna looked to Lucian, who had one hand firmly on her arm, as if to connect her to the present time and place.

"They're memories Morgan, they can't hurt us, not really," Lucian soothes as he let go.

"Memories are the things that can hurt the most of all Lucian," Morganna answered painfully.

"What did Klara mean when she said we had to face our demons here?" Lucian asked.

"I don't think she meant just here, but I've faced my demon, I was afraid because of what I am, and because of that I've never let myself feel or truly engage with anything on this planet. Klara's death was my fault; my hands are stained with her blood."

"But you didn't kill her."

"I might as well have done! I left her, apparently proving my guilt to Viktor, he killed Klara because she was connected to me."

Lucian looked silently at Morganna. They both had discovered the cruelty of Viktor, and seen how completely it could destroy anything he wanted. He had killed Klara to get back at her mistress, he hadn't thought of the lycan as a person, he had thought of her as a pet of Morganna's, a favourite pet at that, one it would hurt the angel to loose. So he had stretched out his hand and had Klara killed. Soren executed his orders gleefully; Morganna knew it would have been Soren who did the deed.

Lucian suddenly jerked, and his eyes took on a faraway, glazed look. Morganna followed as the lycan began to wind his way towards the mansion. The angel had a feeling where the lycan was going, to relieve his final moments with his beloved Sonja. This would be hard for the lycan, because had he ever fully accepted that Sonja was dead? He had fought a war for her, almost as if she were still alive, locked in a tower somewhere.

Knowing that this was Lucian's private pain Morganna left him and walked out towards the woods where it had all began. She frowned when she saw silver glinting in the woods. Stumbling down the hill towards it Morganna tried to lean, desperately wanting to view whatever it was that was in the forest. The angel didn't have to stray too far into the forest before she saw what it was.

It was the mirror from before. She stood again, and saw herself as she should be. She was still entranced by the angel she saw before her, with snowy white wings. Her raven tresses were skilfully dressed, and she was dressed in such rich fabrics. This is what she could be, what she should be. Truly, this was her inheritance if she should wish to reach out and take it.

"No it should have been what I was, not what I am now," Morganna answered, holding out her arms to her past self and she laughed.

"Morganna?" Lucian asked, coming up on her.

"See me as I was, and know now what I can do," Morganna stood aside to let Lucian look into the mirror that was not a mirror.

Lucian stood and stared in awe at the angel before him. He then looked to Morganna, before looking back at the image. Here was the Morganna he knew, and yet there was one he didn't know, one he would never know. There was something there in the true angel, Morganna. Something cold and uncaring that was so different to the woman he had come to know. She was a warrior, but she enjoyed it, but Morganna didn't.

"This isn't you," Lucian answered confidently.

"Then what is?" Morganna asked of the lycan, scrutinising him.

"To be honest, I don't know, but you're not her."

"See, even someone I know says that is not me!" Morganna called out to the air.

"Morganna, there's no one there."

"Are you really and truly sure about that?" A third person entered the clearing.

"Oh so you thought you'd come and show me my greatest demon then?" Morganna turned and addressed the hooded figure.

"No, I thought I'd show you your greatest angel," the strangely disembodied angel answered.

"That angel is not Morganna," Lucian answered.

"No, she's Lailah, my greatest demon because she's my one link still to what I was, and I will never be that again!" Morganna spat at the hooded figure, before turning and stalking off.

As she walked off Morganna found herself crying, really and truly. Why then, when she was feeling so free, was she mourning? _You're mourning for what you never will be again, and for those who died here, and all the pointless killing, and the centuries you lost because you were scared, and you're still scared, _her mind mocked her. Morganna tugged at her hair slightly, signalling herself to stop these thoughts. Perhaps this had been the wrong thing to do, coming back here to face the demons of her past.

Her one biggest demon was the one she never could leave behind. It was the one thing that she carried with her to this day. She had learnt to live with it over the years, her bleeding heart, and so slowly it had begun to heal. Now it was raw and hurting, the man she loved would never love her. So why did she not just give it up, if it was all so fruitless? She didn't know why, it wasn't as if she had ever forgotten about him. If this was what she was meant to face today, then why could she not admit it?

"Morgan, we need to talk," Lucian spoke quietly as he came up behind her.

"Still," Morganna answered with a wry smile.

Morganna smiled as she found a grassy hill overlooking the mansion and she sat down, facing away. She was able to look out over golden wheat fields and watch them bending in the wind. She could feel connected again to nature, in a way she had loved when she was still an innocent child, and in a way she had not been able to do since she had come of age. So she just sat and enjoyed the sun on her face and the wind in her hair and the peace of the day.

"The wars over," Lucian said finally after he joined her.

"Not over, but there'll be no more battles to be fought," Morganna replied thinking pensively.

"Yes but still we need to talk."

"I know."

"Why did you leave us?"

"That's really what the cause of this is isn't it? You're hurt because I left you. And I can't tell you, not yet anyway."

"Not yet?"

"I promise one day I'll be able to tell you, but not now."

"Promise?"

"Didn't I just say that?"

Author's note: Sorry if this chapter isn't as good as some others. I've really struggled with this one, and I thought it would be good to end on the talk that Morganna and Lucian, which is long overdue. Maybe now they can concentrate on the future now that the past is behind them. I guess you'll have to wait and see…


	14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I think we'd all know if I owned Underworld. I only own the original characters in this story. The structure of the Lukoi, or wolf pack, is courtesy of L.K. Hamilton, and is only being borrowed by me.

Silveni: With such a lovely review, what else can an author do but try to meet your wishes, and try to write this as quickly as she can? I have to admit Lucian is very cool, I mean who wouldn't fall in love with him?

I feel flattered that I have managed to write an OC that you like. The angel side of Morganna is I suppose freaky by our terms, but I think its more she was an angel, who was very cold and aloof, and a brilliant fighter. Now she's an okay fighter, but doesn't like to get into close combat, and she has empathy, and can feel. As to your last comment, I'm afraid you're going to have to wait a little longer for that to happen, but it will happen at some point, I promise.

Chapter 13

Morganna shifted restlessly in her plane seat. She had been trying to get to sleep for the best part of the time they had been on the plane. It was not that she was uncomfortable; the plane they were on was full of little luxuries. She had to admit she was surprised when Lucian managed to find a rather accommodating company that would get the small group to America at night. Morganna thought it was ironic that they should start their new life in the dark, instead of stepping off the plane into bright sunshine with birds singing as so often happened in the movies.

Morganna looked over at her companions, who were all sleeping, including Selene. It seemed strange that a vampire would sleep in the night, but then again the events of the past few days may have exhausted her. The angel did not begrudge her rest, she just was not comfortable with the fact that she alone was awake, even when she would much rather be asleep. Her mind was racing, even after she closed her eyes, which would soon force her to open them again.

She hated to admit it to anyone, including herself, but she was worried. Unclipping her belt the angel stood, stretching her legs. She paced the cabin for a while, trying to relax. Once she had gotten a little of the energy that was fizzing around her system out she sat back down again in her chair, and reclined it, closing her eyes, willing to try and give sleep another go. She tried relaxing each and every muscle in her body, as she had once been taught, but it did not work, and soon she was sitting up in her chair again.

She looked around her at the others, all passed out asleep. Somehow Selene had managed to fall asleep on Michael's shoulder, a fact that touched the angel, and she smiled as she looked at them. Jonathan was sprawled across his seat, his mouth half open, the blanket they had each been given tangled around his legs. Tenderly Morganna stood and untangled the blanket from around Jonathan's legs before gently placing it over his legs and lap.

Turning around she saw Lucian watching her strangely. She had thought that Lucian had been sleeping, but obviously he hadn't been. He seemed surprised by the small action that she had done. The angel thought she would find it difficult to explain to him how she felt strangely protective of Jason. Perhaps it was that she was hundreds of years older than him, and he was still a relatively new lycan. Or perhaps it was simply because he needed someone to look after him, as it seemed that Lucian was too busy to mentor Jonathan.

"I think this might just work," Lucian mused as Morganna sat down.

"What might work?" Morganna asked.

"Well I was wondering how to explain you to the other Lukoi."

"Please don't tell me that's another name for lycans, which brings with it a whole lot of other complicated problems."

"I won't then."

"Okay well I guess we better hear this plan of yours."

"The others need to hear it too."

"What now?"

"There might not be another time."

"But they're sleeping, leave them be."

"Morgan," Lucian gently admonished.

Morganna looked expectantly at Lucian, and folded her arms, almost as if she were expecting him to say something else. She was tempted to say that even though they could not sleep it didn't seem fair that they should wake up everyone else when they were sleeping. The staring match carried on for a while, until Lucian sighed and shook his head. Morganna smiled as it meant she had won a small victory. However that victory was soon proved to be futile.

"There are now only two hours until we arrive in America," the captain's voice shot through the room.

Selene jumped up at even that anomaly. She looked as if she would reach for her guns, which to appease the captain she had had to leave in the cargo hold. Morganna had relinquished hers quickly enough, although she had hidden a couple of knives in the boots she was wearing. The angel figured that what the captain did not know would not harm him, and besides Morganna was the one who needed weapons the most, she could not shift, nor could she rip out someone's throat if she chose to.

"What is it?" Jonathan asked as he glared across blearily at Morganna.

"They're awake now," Lucian looked pointedly at Morganna.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you planned that," Morganna replied with a smile.

"What are you two on about?" Jonathan asked, shaking his head.

"Werewolf politics," Morganna answered quickly, hiding whatever else she was about to say beneath a cough.

"So what about lycan politics?" Selene asked almost disdainfully causing Lucian to bridle and growl.

In answer Selene hissed, and her vampire fangs came out. Her eyes glowed the unearthly blue that signified she was a vampire. Lucian also started to change in retaliation. Jonathan seemed to be trying to make himself as small as possible, to avoid whatever was about to happen. Michael seemed unsure of what was happening, and what to do about it. So Morganna realised she was the one who was going to have to do something about the situation.

"Lucian," She gently called to the lycan as she stepped in front of him and Selene.

"Lucian," Morganna tried again, gently laying a hand on his arm.

At that his eyes snapped to her. She stood transfixed almost in fear of the feral beast that was shining in the ice blue orbs of the leader. Calming herself Morganna smiled reassuringly at Lucian, trying to hold his attention to her. Glancing quickly over her shoulder she saw Michael was now trying to talk to Selene, to calm her down. The angel knew Jonathan was at her shoulder, waiting to see what new developments there would be in this already interesting situation.

"Michael, take Selene out of here for a while, until I come and talk to her," Morganna commanded the hybrid.

"Do it!" Jonathan snapped when it seemed like Michael was about to protest.

Morganna sighed with relief as she heard a door close. Now it was her and Jonathan, who had to try and keep Lucian from changing. That would involve calming him down, a task which Morganna alone knew she would have to do. Jonathan would need to be there in case anything went wrong, like Lucian shifted on her and tried to attack her, which could be fatal in a situation like this, where there was no space to run. It might even end in the plane crashing, which was potentially very, very dangerous.

"Lucian calm down, you're completely overreacting," Morganna tried to reason with the lycan leader.

"Ummmm…Morganna, it doesn't seem to be working," Jonathan replied after a while.

"Jonathan shut up!" Morganna commanded.

Throughout all of this she held the stare of Lucian. Her eyes were burning with the need for her to blink, and yet she didn't want to take her eyes of the lycan leader for a second. She had a funny feeling that if she lost eye contact with him for a second he might loose control completely. Now she was not afraid, she was trusted that Lucian would not loose control completely now that the source of his aggravation had been removed. She could not think of why the lycan would be this quick to anger.

"Lucian, calm down, it's really not worth it, you could end up killing us all, do you want that?" Morganna asked trying to reason with him.

Suddenly the lycan tore his gaze from hers and broke away from her hand that was still placed lightly on his arm. He fell to pacing the floor of the cabin. Eventually he looked at Morganna and she smiled to see it was Lucian again. She walked across to him, and placed her hand again lightly on his arm. She was surprised when he would not meet her eyes. Gently she lifted his chin with her free hand, and she was surprised to see shame in his eyes.

"What is it Lucian?" Morganna asked concerned.

"I completely overreacted," Lucian explained.

"Well we know that," Morganna joked, smiling slightly.

"Its near to a full moon, maybe he lost control, I sometimes do," Jonathan tried to think up excuses.

"Its not that though, is it Lucian?" Morganna answered holding Lucian's gaze, "She reminds you of Sonja, and yet she acts so differently."

Lucian nodded. Morganna knew he was still grieving for his Sonja. It hurt the angel to see him like this, he needed to be strong not vulnerable. However the way Selene had been so dismissive must have hurt Lucian, almost as if the words had come out of Sonja's mouth. Jonathan's point did still stand, but it did not explain completely why Lucian came so close to shifting, unless it was something incredibly annoying to him.

"We all loose control sometimes, its OK Lucian," Morganna reassured, before pulling away, "I need to go and see Selene."

Opening the door she walked through to the other room. Both Michael and Selene looked at her. Both of them seemed to be expecting something from her, although what it was she didn't know. She closed the door firmly behind her so that neither Lucian nor Jonathan would be able to hear or see what was about to happen. Turning to Michael Morganna indicated that he should leave. The hybrid seemed about to argue, but the angel turned a chilling glare onto him, and he left without a protest after that. Once Michael was gone Selene devoted her full attention to the woman standing before her.

"That was stupid," Morganna started, "You should not be disrespectful to your allies!"

"Until last night they were my enemies!" Selene spat back.

"That could easily happen again! We need to know about lycan politics as you put it. If we don't we're going to walk into the other pack and get slaughtered, do you want that?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Go in there, apologise and then we listen to whatever we need to know to help us survive."

After that Morganna turned smartly on her heels and walked out of the room, leaving a very startled vampire staring at her. She walked straight back over to her seat and flopped down contentedly back into it with a small sigh. She chose to ignore the fact that every male eye in the room was on her, especially after a rather sheepish female vampire come in and apologise. Lucian kept his face neutral as he accepted the apology, but could not help but smile to think of how Morganna had seemed to cow even the death dealer.

"Now, what was it you wanted to tell us?" Morganna lightly enquired after a while as she turned to face Lucian.

Jonathan let out an audible groan as he heard the Lukoi mentioned. Lucian seemed to accept this grumbling easily enough, whilst carrying on explaining it to the other three, who seemed blissfully unaware of what it meant. Morganna had heard the term in her travels, but had not known what it meant, nor understood how damn complicated werewolf society really was. It was almost like the vampire society, which still clung to the idea of feudal overlords and serfs. Whenever she had dealt with vampires after her enforced exile Morganna always seemed to expect a knight to come running to deal with her.

"So you're Ulfric?" Michael asked Lucian after a while.

"Exactly," Lucian agreed.

"Why does he get to be leader?" Selene asked, clearly not happy with the situation.

"Because one, he's a werewolf, two, because he's the oldest werewolf, three, he killed the last Ulfric of his pack, I was there and four, he knows all about Lukoi," Morganna explained reeling off the reasons easily.

"I suppose when you put it like that…" Selene agreed grudgingly.

"Who's going to be Lupa?" Jonathan asked suddenly.

Suddenly dead silence fell over the cabin. Morganna looked to Lucian expectantly, and was not surprised when he looked straight back at her. She was also surprised that everyone else there was giving her their vote. She was puzzled, she hadn't asked for this, and after listening to what being Lupa entailed she was not exactly sure if she wanted to be it. So she decided to try and wriggle her way out of it like she so often had.

"I'm not," Morganna answered.

"You're the only female here who could be Lupa," Lucian gently reasoned.

"You never know, you could meet someone," Morganna brushed it off.

"Morgan, you have to be our Lupa," Jonathan pleaded.

"But, isn't she, the girlfriend or wife of the Ulfric?" Morganna asked, already dreading the answer.

"You only have to pretend to be together," this time it was Selene who spoke.

Morganna bit her tongue, knowing there was nothing more she could say. It seemed it had all been decided for her. Why she never had a say in the things that often turned out to have the most bearing on her life irked her a little, but sometimes things turned out for the better, and sometimes they didn't. What Morganna was really uncomfortable about however was what it would mean if she agreed.

It would mean that she would have to trust in someone else. Her life had been a lonely one for many, many years, and she was unsure if she still knew how to trust someone else apart from herself. She guessed only time would tell.

Author's note: I hope you all enjoyed, although I'm not really sure how I could have written this chapter better, even though I don't like it. Anyway, reviews are always appreciated.


	15. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters that do not belong in Underworld. The idea of the structured pack or Lukoi belongs to L.K. Hamilton.

ThranduilsDaughter: Well it's going to be interesting to say the least…

Silveni: Firstly I must say thank you for another lovely review. It really warms my heart to know that people enjoy this story. And yes, awkward is one way you could put it, but it makes for a unique situation.

Ulfric and Lupa are both titles in the pack. Ulfric is generally the dominant male (sometimes very rarely a female), who has to challenge and defeat the old Ulfric before they can take over the running of the pack. The Lupa is the mate of the Ulfric. This link is usually sexual, hence why the Lupa is often the Ulfric's girlfriend or wolf. Hope that's cleared things up for you.

Chapter 14

Morganna looked at herself in the full length mirror. She turned, trying to see if there was anything wrong with the outfit she had chosen. Lucian had said that it didn't really matter what she wore, as long as she looked presentable. There was something hanging in the air after he had finished, that left Morganna doubting his words. Still she had done her best, and was now looking at the wide eyed reflection of herself staring out of the mirror.

She was wearing a simple black skirt, which hugged her hips, before curving in towards her knees, and then curving out again to reach the floor. Around the waist was a silver chain belt, with a chain that dropped from the front, and fastened on again at the back. Her top was again simple, a bright red gypsy top, whose sleeves she pushed off her shoulders, showing off her pale creamy skin to its best effect.

As she looked at herself, she shook her head at her long tumbling locks. Skilfully she caught all of her hair, and twisted it up into a loose bun, which she secured with some red chopsticks, with silver charms hanging from the top. Lucian had persuaded her to take off her angel pendant, and instead she selected an elaborate ruby choker from her box. It was, made up of rubies clustered in a flower pattern that settled at the base of her throat. She gently inserted the earrings that matched; the rubies were set in gold and dangled temptingly beneath her ears.

Finally she slid on the bangle to match and then turned to look at herself in the mirror. She knew she was not quite finished; she still had to apply her makeup. She knew from the time when she had been a lady, that sometimes you only needed the barest minimum of makeup to enhance your natural features, and then men would literally start falling at your feet. To this end she applied a little eyeliner and mascara to her emerald eyes. They needed nothing else; they would shine out on their own.

Finally Morganna applies a light swipe of deep red lipstick. With one final look at herself in the mirror she turned smartly on her heel. The finishing touch would be her heels, which would give her a little height, as she often ended up feeling small, even though she was only a head shorter than Lucian. To this end she kept her shoes simple, black heels, which would still be hidden beneath her skirt.

The door to her room opened then, and Lucian walked in, almost looking as if he were about to protest at the amount of time Morganna had spent preparing. All words died in his throat, though, as Morganna turned to face him with a grace he had not known she possessed. She smiled widely as she realised that her plan had paid off, she would stun most male lycans when she walked into the room. Well, that was what she was hoping would happen anyway.

"Time to go?" Morganna asked lightly.

Lucian nodded in answer. Morganna smiled at the fact she seemed to have struck the lycan leader dumb with amazement. He had never seen her when she was dressed like this, now she was a lady, not the simple woman she was before she had wrought this almost magical transformation on herself. It seemed almost as if she were a different woman from the one who had fought in the war. She was refined, and used to the better things in life, as her jewellery showed.

"Its still me," Morganna reassured as she walked out of the room she and Lucian were sharing.

It had been a simple decision at the time. Michael and Selene wanted to share a room, which was understandable. However Lucian had decided it would be best for him and Morganna to share a room, much to the angel's consternation. She hadn't wanted to stay in the same room as Lucian, for reasons that were obvious to her. She had had to be reasonable when Lucian explained it would look weird if they were both not staying in the same room, especially as they had to at least put up a united front.

It was slightly unnerving for the angel hearing that the lycans could be as underhand as the vampires, especially when it concerned other lycans. They were very territorial animals, and this move could be seen by the American lycans as a political machination to try and take over their land. This was why Lucian had made contact with them as soon as they had landed, and why the other lycans had insisted on a meeting as soon as the whole party was rested.

Walking down into the foyer Morganna had the opportunity to observe the entire group. Selene looked uncomfortable, and the angel did not know if it was because she was having to walk right into the den of her long-time enemies, or if it was because she had been forced to dress like a lady. Michael seemed to find Selene's distress a source of some amusement. It was Jonathan who surprised Morganna the most, dressed in a silk shirt.

"Morganna…" Jonathan stared at the angel as she descended easily.

"Jonathan," Morganna greeted the young wolf easily.

"You look, well…umm, great!"

"Jonathan!" Lucian growled warningly, an undercurrent of anger in his tone.

Morganna turned and frowned at Lucian. She didn't understand what the hell was going on. However it seemed to be that Jonathan had somehow stepped over a boundary that Lucian had put there, and it remained to see whether or not Jonathan would push the boundary. Either that or Lucian was protecting his Lupa, but surely apart from the roles they were playing she meant nothing to him?

"Lucian?" Another figure appeared.

As Lucian chatted away for a few moments with the young man Morganna looked him up and down. He was dressed in a suit; however he was wearing trainers, which she thought meant that he was not serious about what he was being sent to do. There was something altogether inhuman about him, even from the way he seemed to know that Morganna was watching him, and he was observing her whilst seemingly paying all his attention to Lucian.

"Do I pass inspection?" The wolf asked almost impertinently.

"Your style of dress leaves something to be desired," Morganna was aware of how clipped her tone and accent was next to the American accent of the wolf.

"You never told me she was a Brit," the wolf smirked at Morganna.

"Morganna is not British, she lived there for a few years," Lucian quickly explained.

"That's alright then, but my she does sound like a lady," the American looked searchingly at the angel.

"Who says I'm not?" Morganna asked him.

"Well then, my lady, your carriage awaits," the American bowed to her.

Morganna looked at Lucian, who stepped up to her elbow. Taking it gently he directed her towards the doors. Stepping outside she was surprised to see a limousine. Selene it seemed, was also clearly shocked by this, but wisely managed to hide her surprise. Morganna swept down the steps, and smiled her thanks as the door was opened for her. If the American was determined to make her play the lady she would, she had not forgotten her past.

As she settled back into the leather seats she managed to observe the others getting in, some with more or less success than her. Lucian managed to gather something like grace as he settled down next to her. Selene was helped in by Michael; the lycan did not seem willing to even touch the vampire. Morganna wondered what that would bode for the future dealings, as it could mean trouble, but then again it could just be the lycan's personal feelings, Morganna didn't know.

The car ride was thankfully very quick. Morganna knew that this opulence was a show, and wondered where they would end up. She knew she was making a very bold statement by dressing how she had. For a start she was wearing jewellery which was not only worth a fortune, but which was also antique. If someone worked out it would cause problems for her, they might take it to mean that she was a thief.

"I have a present for you, Morgan," Lucian produced a box.

"Thank you," Morganna accepted the box gratefully.

Opening it she gasped. The dark wood box, which had been held, shut by a delicate clasp opened to reveal a bright purple silk interior. Nestled in the centre of this was a delicate knife. Its handle was covered exquisite metalwork that depicted two snarling wolves. The rest of the handle was covered in black leather held on with what looked like silver filigree. Drawing the blade out of its sheath the angel immediately knew it was tempered silver.

Morganna ran her hand over the flat of the blade. She revelled in its cool firm feel against the palm of her hand. More than likely this blade was not entirely comprised of silver. She was mindful again of how concerned Lucian was for her safety, even down to giving her a blade which he could not use or one which could be turned against him at a moment's notice, if he happened to annoy Morganna enough for her to want to use it, that was.

"This is silver," Morganna's voice was quiet.

"Not entirely, it's a composite," Lucian explained.

"I thought I wouldn't be allowed to be armed."

"You will be you're not a wolf, or a blood."

"You make it sound like it's going to be dangerous," Morganna teased.

"I never said it wouldn't be," Lucian replied, adding, "It could end up being a bloodbath and you are the person most at risk if there is one."

Morganna shivered slightly at the implied meaning. She wished she could confidently brush down Lucian's claims, saying that nothing would happen to her, that she was a good warrior. In truth she couldn't say things like that, especially if they were not true. The lycans were generally larger than her, and most certainly they would be stronger than her. Morganna wondered if she would even have a chance with a single dagger like the one she had been given?

At that moment the car drew up, and the small party clambered out. Morganna was surprised to see they were outside a restaurant. It looked different to what the angel had expected; it had a level of class that she had not often seen linked to the lycans. She wondered if it had anything to do with the war between the vampires and the lycans, and before that the enslavement of the lycans. It was hard to have class when you were crushed beneath someone else's heel.

But you could have pride; pride in yourself, in your family, in your people. That was what Morganna had seen the most, and that was what stuck with her the most. As much as the lycans were never as well off as the vampires, as much as they had always been slaves, they were very proud. It was difficult for them to admit they had been wrong, and it was very easy to insult them, especially if they thought you were looking down on them.

The group were quickly taken through the main room of the restaurant where it was fairly busy. Most of the eyes in the room were on them, and Morganna knew they were the eyes of lycans, not of humans. The humans were chattering away to one another, oblivious to the danger they could be in. These same humans spared only a glance for the group as they passed through, yet every pair of lycans eyes were on them as they walked through.

Most began to move, following the party, shadowing them as they walked through the main room. Morganna smiled, she knew this was a show of power, meant to unnerve them. She however carried on walking, even though she felt like running. Confidence would serve her well, whereas fear would make her appear weak in the eyes of the wolves, and she did not want that.

Finally the guide opened a heavy metal door. Once the whole party were through he bowed before shutting the door behind them and walking off. Morganna knew that this was not meant to appear like they were being trapped, although it certainly felt that way. Instead she took a deep steadying breath, before stepping forwards down the stairs that Lucian had already begun to descend. He had turned a few steps down, seemingly waiting for his Lupa. Morganna managed to hide her few seconds' confusion to simply having a problem with her heels.

She was aware of the lycan driver at her elbow, seemingly to see that she was alright. However he seemed to be sniffing the air around Morganna. As soon as he touched her elbow, as if to steer her down she jerked her elbow out of his reach. The wolf seemed to be amused by her attitude; she imagined she must have intrigued him by acting like a lady, not something he as an American was probably expecting.

Morgan was glad when Lucian reached out a hand for her. She took it, and the lycan almost imperceptibly squeezed it gently, almost as if to reassure her. Morganna knew that she would need all of her wits about her if she were to stand a chance at entering into this den of intrigues. So she was sure to keep her breathing deep and even as she inched her way lower down. If she didn't know any better she would swear she was entering the den of some vampire lord.

Eventually the group came out in a large bunker. There was some furniture, but what little there was could hardly merit the term furniture. It was mostly broken, nothing like the affluent restaurant that had been upstairs. There was obviously little care put into the maintaining of the room either, there was evidence of dust everywhere. This was not meant to be a comfortable room, and Morgan almost shuddered to think what the room was actually used for.

Morganna cursed her decision to wear heels as the lycan guide left them. Other lycans were in the room now, and they were all prowling. It seemed as if the group were almost waiting for something to happen. It unnerved Morganna, but she knew better than to shift or make a move. Without realising it all of her instincts were shifting, gearing themselves ready for a fight. Lucian stepped closer to her, touching her elbow. Then he leaned forward until his breath was whispering across her skin.

"Morgan, be careful, we're not here to fight them," he whispered, before planting a gentle kiss on her neck.

Morgan nodded, relaxing slightly. She smiled slightly and allowed Lucian to slide one arm around her waist and pull her back so she was nestled against him. She knew public displays of affection were common within lycan packs. And besides, Morgan was attracted to Lucian, she would admit it. If it leant their charade some semblance of reality then she would act as needed. She knew it would be an act; she would have to make herself believe it was one; otherwise her heart would become too involved.

"They'll see you now," the group's escort reappeared, ushering them in to one of the side rooms.


	16. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I only own any original characters. I apologise in advance to any Americans who I offend with this and other chapters. My only apology is that I'm not American, and if someone could help me out with certain aspects of their life I would be eternally grateful. Otherwise please don't moan.

zenrockstar: Thanks, I had a bit of a writer's block, but this helped me get over it. Many thanks! And I do agree with you, there aren't enough Lucian stories around!

Punk Rocker Fairy: I didn't think Lucian is that much of a scamp. Sorry about not updating sooner, writer's blocks and all that, on top of school exams. Not so great for a writer's creativity.

peteylove: So glad you liked it. Hope you keep on enjoying.

Chapter 15

Lucian bowed Morganna into the room before him. The angel accepted this with a barely raised eyebrow. She didn't look behind her, she was feigning a confidence she really didn't feel. She was surprised to see a room like one she would be expecting in a Victorian, or late 1800's American setting. The wing backed chairs were well oiled, or at least cared for. There was also a bookshelf with original leather bound books.

What made Morgan's mouth twist the most was the man sitting in the chair. Well, the lycan masquerading as a Southern plantation owner. His hat was one traditionally worn by the cowboys. Yet his suit was immaculately tailored charcoal grey, which Morgan would consider tasteful. His boots were a deep polished black. In one hand he held a smoking cigar, and in the other a cut crystal glass containing what looked like golden rum.

"Ah, my guests arrive," the lycan's drawl was definitely southern.

"I am pleased that we finally get to meet in the flesh," Lucian stepped forward, stalling whatever comment Morgan had been about to make.

Morgan allowed Lucian to make polite small talk. She was still biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing. Lucian looked back at her; obviously he had decided to introduce her somehow in between the useless pieces of information that were being traded. She raised both her eyebrows at him as he gently led her forward, and squeezed her hand, almost warning her to be careful.

"And who would this enchanting lady be?" the lycan leader asked, eyeing her wolfishly.

"I'm Morganna," Morganna extended a hand to be shaken, which instead was kissed.

"I was told I had a lady present."

"It's rare you meet someone nowadays who knows how to treat a lady," Morgan retorted as she was lead to a seat.

"Morgan be polite," Lucian growled quietly at her, before sitting down opposite his host.

"Take a seat all of you," their host ushered them all to seats.

Not surprisingly there had not been a seat provided for Selene. Morgan noticed this very early on. It was a deliberate snub, and one that Morgan would not stand for, even if Lucian would. She wasn't a lycan, so she didn't have to be as pointedly rude as they were towards bloods, even if she knew that given half a chance they would probably tear her limb from limb.

She beckoned Selene to the seat she had just vacated, and stood instead. Her host seemed to start at that, and the angel merely smiled at him. She mentally retracted her earlier comment; a gentleman would never leave a lady standing, even if she did belong to his enemy. She would have understood had Selene entered all guns blazing, but she had not, she had entered in the company of a Lycan leader, which marked her out as at least an interested party.

Lucian frowned at the strange action, and went to stand himself, to offer Morgan his chair. Still smiling Morgan walked across and gently pressed him back into his seat, before standing at his shoulder, one hand still placed to restrain her Ulfric to the chair. Her smile widened as the leader clicked his fingers and called out for another chair.

She genuinely thanked the lycan who brought the chair in for her. It was a wing backed leather one that looked like it belonged in the room. No doubt it had been removed on purpose, but now was having to be replaced. The other Ulfric knew it would be a snub to leave his counterpart's Lupa standing, one that could be a problem, although not likely, as the other group were in no position to start a fight, and the other group knew it.

"So what brings you to our part of the world?" the other Ulfric enquired.

"Visiting and strengthening good relations," Lucian answered suavely.

"I heard it was because your entire pack was almost wiped out, and you're running from a crazed vampire lord who may or may not be a hybrid."

"That sounds like an awfully large rumour," Morgan commented politely, smiling.

"News travels fast around certain communities."

Morgan nodded at that, filing it away for future reference. So these lycans weren't above spying on their old world counterparts, obviously worried. Of course the lycan packs here weren't often as established as others in other parts of the world. But it didn't mean that they had to spy on others. There had to be something else behind it all, which worried Morgan slightly.

But the look the Ulfric gave her really made her bite the inside of her cheek to stop her from dissolving into a fit of giggles like an unruly schoolchild. It was saying that she was wrong to doubt the truth of what he said that she was merely a woman meddling in an all male world. Morgan's smile turned decidedly frosty, she was not about to go and sit in a corner, ignoring everything that was said because one male thought it was a good idea of her.

"Where are my manners?" the Ulfric suddenly answered, "Drinks for my guests!"

Suddenly lycans appeared from nowhere, bearing trays. To Morganna this was looking more and more like a form of slavery. Her hackles began to rise, however Lucian seemed to notice this, being in tune with almost her every mood it seemed. He passed her a drink, and stood behind her chair, keeping one hand on her shoulder. Now it was Morgan's turn to be pinned, but unlike Lucian she could not get up if she wanted to.

He was warning her, and for once Morgan decided to listen. She had learnt to listen, and concede defeat… at certain points in time. This was one of them. Lucian felt her relax underneath his hand, and wondered what she was up to. This ploy of acting like an obedient woman would not last that long he knew. But there was something there, she was plotting…

"Honey, I'm so sorry I was late!" a female sauntered into the room.

Morgan turned to face this new woman, surprised at her loud interruption. A quick glance assured the angel that this female was most definitely lycan. She was pretty, in a voluptuous way that almost had Morgan green with envy. The way she threw herself over the Ulfric identified her as the Lupa. It was almost distasteful the way she shimmied and greeted her Ulfric. Morgan knew that lycan greetings were often physical, but not this physical.

The Lupa's eyes slid from Lucian to Morganna. They took her in calculatingly, everything from her carefully arranged hair to her shoes, which were just peeping out from the hem of her skirt. It seemed to be appreciative, very appreciative. Morgan wondered perhaps if it was too appreciative as the Lupa slid across to stand the other side of Morgan.

The Lupa let her hand rest on Morgan's other shoulder, gently, teasingly. Lucian's tightened, almost imperceptibly, but Morgan noticed, and winced slightly. Obviously the Lupa thought that this shift was because of her, and in part it was. She laughed, trailing the hand across Morganna's skin, almost as if she were teasing her. Morgan managed to look at Lucian, and she shot him what she hoped was a very pleading and desperate look.

"That's enough Ulrika!" the other Ulfric declared suddenly, hearing Lucian's growl.

"But, Ralph she's beautiful, and her Ulfric shouldn't mind sharing a titbit like her," Ulrika moaned.

"She's my Lupa, and she's not for sharing," Lucian growled.

"Here she's anyone's she wants to be, unless of course she's carrying your pups," Ralph explained.

"I don't want to be anyone's but my Ulfric's," Morgan answered, grasping Lucian's hand.

"That's a pity love, such a pity. You're not carrying his pups are you?"

"No, not yet," Lucian answered, the tone clear.

"What's the matter, darling, can't he get it up?" Ralph joked.

"My private life stays that, private," Morgan cut over Lucian's voice, no longer even trying to be polite.

"Excuse her, she's just tired," Lucian soothed.

"She's more than welcome to try with me," Ralph leered.

At that moment she had had more than enough. She stood and strode confidently out of the door, not looking back behind her. He was angry; probably trying to be after the affronts she had just been paid. He and the others left soon after, and Lucian stepped up to her shoulder. She was already at the top of the stairs, and their guide from earlier appeared, ushering them to the car. Morgan was the last he let through, but at the glare from her the proposition that she guessed he had been about to offer died on his lips.

She stalked out to the limousine and sank down into it gratefully. She was still fizzling with anger. Later she knew she would be mortified, but right now she kept her anger close to her. It stopped anyone in the car from talking to her, and it also stopped most of the conversation. After the short ride to the hotel Morgan stalked up to the room she and Lucian shared, slamming the door behind her.

Her anger lasted her until she had kicked her shoes off, removed her jewellery rather more forcefully than she should have done, and removed her make-up. Then she sank down onto the bed and simply burst into tears. Now she was simply mortified, she couldn't believe she had merited such leers from any other lycans, especially not from the Ulfric and Lupa.

"I'm so sorry Morgan, if I'd have known..." Lucian apologised, sounding exasperated.

"It's not your fault," Morgan reassured him as she managed to calm herself down a little.

"I've never known any other Ulfric or Lupa to act like that."

"Or to have such strange rules."

"Morgan this isn't normal."

"You're telling me. I sensed something wasn't right there."

"What was it?"

"You know, I just couldn't put my finger on it... Maybe it was that some of them were being treated like slaves!"

"You just can't let it go can you?"

"It's not as if they're vampires Lucian, they shouldn't even have slavery within their own ranks, everyone should feel equally valued."

"Morgan, promise me you won't intervene."

"I promise I won't do anything that might be considered insulting; although why I should bother after the way I was treated."

"Morgan, for once in your life will you just leave it? We need their help to fight Marcus."

"All I'm going to do, is work out what is wrong with that pack."

"And if you do find something?"

"I'll work that part out when I get to it."

"Morgan, just don't meddle."

"Meddling is exactly what kept you alive to be here in the first place."

"I know, and I am thankful, truly I am. But just for once can you promise not to get involved in things you neither understand. It's not your fight."

"But it's not right Lucian."

"You can't right all the wrongs in the world you know."

"But this isn't all the wrongs in the world. Its only one thing."

"This could turn out to be something that's too big for you."

"And if it is, I'll ask for help."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Author's note: I will apologise to everyone here, I meant to put this in before chapter 16, but it appeared to have slipped my mind. So I hope you can appreciate this, as it might explain a little more. And for some of you, I hope you enjoy reading this while I get on with writing the rest of the story. All I can say is, sorry!!


	17. Chapter 16

Author's note: I just want to say a very big thank you to everyone who's been behind me, especially my reviewers for providing the impetus for completing this chapter. Once again, I do apologise for my writer's block, but hope this was well worth the wait.

Chapter 16

Morgan stared at the coffee in front of her. She was bored, thoroughly. The rest of the people around her were lycans, she had been told there for her safety. Jonathon had run off somewhere, with another lycan. Morganna felt like a proud mother, proud that her child was playing nicely with the others, and had managed to make some friends. Selene was back at the hotel, sleeping, and Michael was with her.

Lucian was downstairs, talking to Ralph about the real reasons they had arrived there. Morgan didn't like it; she thought they shouldn't be asking help from Ulrika and Ralph, something was not right. Lucian had overridden her, and she had acceded, with very bad grace. She half suspected that was the reason she was now playing by herself on her own, being frozen out of the conversations going on downstairs.

The angel had already resolved to get her own back on Lucian, although she hadn't quite worked out how. Perhaps if she contacted Vincent, and told him where she was and why, as well as inviting him over. Although, she ruminated, Vincent was not likely to make them appear any less hostile. Of course, a vampire lord who could walk around in sunlight and would probably be able to tear apart most of the population of the café at that moment was definitely not welcome.

Morganna shrugged, hiding her smile behind her coffee mug. She was tired, and now was functioning mainly on caffeine. She knew she needed to get more rest, but she was so on edge that sleep was very nearly impossible. She hated to admit it, but the only time she managed sleep was when Lucian was near her, and that was little enough there past few months. So it was back to drinking buckets of coffee.

"Some things never change," Morgan muttered to herself.

Like the feeling of unease that had only been growing. Ralph and Ulrika had only to snap their fingers and one of their lycans would jump. Morgan had tried talking to them about it, but they would ignore her, and Ralph had made some very veiled comments about staying out of business that was not her own. She had no choice but to agree, she wasn't in the position of power anymore.

The feeling of unease only increased as she spotted yet another new lycan sitting in the corner of the café. And this one seemed to be watching her incessantly. Morgan knew that the pack was large enough she hadn't met everyone in it. But the way this one stared was strange. Never mind that she wasn't able to see their face. She hadn't quite worked out why she merited such attention.

She was started out of her reverie when one of the lycans she had come to recognise placed a fresh mug of coffee in front of her, swiftly removing her used one. The angel smiled her thanks, and waited a few moments, before her friend rejoined her. David was so enthusiastic and friendly that Morgan couldn't help but warm to him.

"So what's new?" Morgan teased.

"Same old, same old. You know, coffee is no substitute for sleep," David teased back.

"Of course mummy."

"You know I'm only saying this because I care."

"Of course. So, what is new? I haven't seen you around for a few days."

"I've been doing, you know… stuff."

"Code for telling me to keep my nose out of your business then?"

"You know I would love to tell you… but I can't so please don't ask."

David looked so honestly pained that Morgan regretted asking. She placed her hand gently over David's where it was a fist on the table. David jumped, and looked down at Morgan's hand. She was so careful; she knew touch meant something more. So she had been very careful, Lucian tended to get jealous if she hugged any other males. Casual touching, comforting though, she was allowed.

It puzzled her sometimes why Lucian got quite so annoyed sometimes. They were just pretending after all… weren't they? However, the way that Lucian acted sometimes made Morgan doubt. He was acting like he was actually dating her, or more like a jealous husband. That thought made Morgan wince a little, and pull her hand away. Lucian had been a husband once, before everything had gone wrong.

"What's up?" David demanded.

"Nothing, just some painful memories… Who's that in the corner? He's done nothing but stare at me all morning? Morgan enquired.

"You mean him?"

"Oh yes, I mean him. I don't think there are any other shadowy characters around this morning who haven't met me before."

"He's, well he's… an enigma… No one knows that much about him."

"But I'm sure you could help them fill in the gaps, Morganna."

Morgan jumped completely out of her skin hearing a strangely familiar voice at her shoulder. She turned, to see that the man from the corner standing at her shoulder. He looked familiar too, and Morgan groaned silently to realise that it was one of her ex-husbands. She admitted to herself as she stood and turned to face him, she hadn't expected the past to come back and bite her again… meeting Lucian had been enough of a shock, and look where that got her.

"Ah, Connor, I must admit, I wasn't expecting to see you after all these years, especially after you divorced me and then went and got yourself killed in that awful hunting accident," Morgan's tone was acidic.

"You were concerned for me?" Connor asked.

"After how you treated me? I think not."

"I only left you for someone who knows how to treat a man."

"So, which of your whores was it? I suppose you didn't have long to enjoy her. Although I must thank you for not altering your will, it left me a very wealthy woman."

"You grasping bitch."

"Well, I didn't marry you for your looks now did I? It was one of the best days of my life when you died."

"I didn't die though; I was bitten by a werewolf."

"Of course you were, because otherwise you wouldn't still be here."

"The question is why you're still here, you should be long dead."

"A lady never reveals her secrets."

"How old are you? Really and truly?"

"How rude, and I thought you knew how to treat a lady."

"You utter whore."

"I would rather call myself enterprising; I only did what any other lady in my position would have."

"You're splitting hairs. Why are you here now?"

"Connor, stop, please, she's a Lupa now," David begged.

"Oh, so you've stopped whoring have you?" Connor spat.

"I never did, actually. I've finally found someone worthy of my attention. Now please leave me alone, I was having a conversation with my friend."

Morgan turned away, but in a split second she realised the mistake she had made. She had annoyed a lycan, and then turned her back on him, leaving her open. He flew at her, and she was soon pinned up against the wall, held up only by her neck. Connor had always been so much taller than Morgan, he was over six feet, and she was not. It had always bothered her, but now, as her feet were kicking in air, she hated it.

Almost as soon as she was held, she felt herself being dropped. She was caught by someone with an arm slung around her waist, and they easily took her weight as she doubled over, gasping for breath. When she was able to register what had happened, Connor was lying in a pile of broken furniture, with Ralph standing over him, and Ulrika and another lycan keeping him pinned to the floor. It was obvious Ralph had come to her rescue, and he was not pleased with his wolf.

Morgan turned to see Lucian eyeing Connor, and in that moment she was thankful that Lucian had caught her, otherwise she knew it would have been a fight between the two men, and that she did not want, under any circumstances. She told herself that she didn't want to harm all the careful work that Lucian had been doing, although the annoying voice in the back of her head told her that she was just worried Lucian would get hurt.

Lucian seemed almost as if he were resolved to try and beat Connor into a bloody pulp still. To stop him, Morgan suddenly cuddled up against him, resting her head against his shoulder, and gripping his arm around her waist tightly. The lycan looked down at her completely surprised. After a few seconds he nodded, at the almost unspoken plea in Morgan's eyes.

"I do apologise for Connor's rudeness, I am sure you will have to think of a way we can repay you," Ralph came over while Connor was being dragged off.

"I am sure I will think of something," Morganna nodded.

"I insist you attend tonight to see how we punish those who attack our guests."

"We shall see. For the moment, I wish to rest."

Ralph nodded, and allowed Lucian to lead Morgan out of the door. There was already a car waiting for them, the angel had long ago stopped wondering about the other pack's almost magical ability to sense when they were leaving, and provide transport accordingly. Lucian held the door open for Morgan, who gladly slid in, and settled back against the leather seats.

It was a relatively short journey back to the hotel, and Morgan had come to know it very well. It suddenly seemed much longer, she was still on edge after the attack, and she wanted to talk to Lucian about it, yet neither of them was willing to discuss this in front of someone who was not a member of the pack. That was one of the first rules that Lucian had drilled into everyone, whatever was said in the hotel rooms was private, especially if it was pack business.

"Are you alright, Morgan?" Lucian enquired after a few moments.

"Yes… no, I'm tired," Morgan answered.

Morgan watched Lucian raise both his eyebrows, almost in a look of disbelief. Saying she was tired was Morgan telling the truth, but it was also her way of telling Lucian that she really wasn't happy. The code the pair had come up with worked very well; it seemed that any innocuous remarks were just that, when in fact they were a way of communicating.

Lucian didn't answer, instead he sighed heavily, before sliding her across the seats so she was resting against him. Morgan cuddled up against him. The coffee she had just drunk didn't seem to have touched her system. She was in a place that she considered safe, and she could completely relax. She hadn't felt this safe in many years.

Morgan knew she wasn't completely safe, not by a long way, but she had managed to survive a lot. She was with a lycan, who she knew could withstand a lot more than she could, and would stop short of nothing to protect her, or that's what he had said was entailed by her being Lupa. So she could afford to relax and go to sleep, letting go of all of her worries, and fears.

Lucian smiled down as he realised that Morgan had fallen asleep. Usually the copious amounts of coffee she drank kept her awake at least until they got back to the hotel, and Lucian talked to her about the politics she had seen played out before her. There were flaws in the group, and Morgan seemed to have a knack from finding them out, simply from sitting upstairs, outside of all of the conferences that Lucian seemed to end up neck deep in.

Morgan didn't even stir when Lucian lifted her out and carried her into the hotel. Instead she almost snuggled in closer. It was strange to see her… vulnerable. She was often happy, elated, angry, imperious, or just being slightly too happy because she'd drunk far too much coffee. But never was she so completely relaxed as she was when she was sleeping, and it was strange, or that was what Lucian thought.

It seemed as if almost nothing had happened in the years since she had arrived in the world. Now whenever Lucian talked to her there was a wall there. It was like she was hiding something from him, she was, she would be the first to admit it. But when she was sleeping, it didn't look like she was hiding something.

Nor did it look like she was haunted, or afraid of being hunted by her past. Sometimes he would catch her in odd moments, looking very afraid of something. She would brush it off, but it never entirely went away. Lucian had considered trying to pry it out of her, but she could be as slippery as an eel at evading things when she wanted. So he waited, hoping that she would trust him enough to talk to him about it.

Lucian was annoyed at the way Morgan had been treated. It was a direct insult, and could mean war. Not that Lucian was in any position to win one; he hadn't quite worked out how to fracture the splits in the pack, not yet. But still the principle was there. Morgan could quite happily demand Connor's death, and Lucian would push her to. Either that or they could manage to gain protection against Marcus, which was the thing Ralph had been trying to wriggle out of.

Lucian smiled down at Morgan; she had given him a gift. She would have to be the one to make the demands, and Lucian knew he would have to talk to her before they went back as a pack, so she knew what she could reasonably demand. Also Lucian was intrigued about how Morgan fell in with such a character as Connor…


	18. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters in this story, any others are not mine, they're just lending themselves to me

Author's note: I just want to say that I hope all my loyal readers are still out there after a few years. They've been pretty busy, and I've been working with a writer's block. However, I am still determined to finish, and hope you all carry on and enjoy.

Chapter 17

Morganna blinked, although the blackness behind her eyelids seemed the same as the blackness when she opened her eyes. For almost the millionth time she wished she really did have enhanced senses, as a fallen angel, you ranked rather low on the supernatural abilities list, or so it seemed.

The angel hauled herself slowly to her feet, checking for any damage. Apart from a lump to the back of her head, and a fuzzy feeling in her mouth she was fine. Although… the thought that she shouldn't be here, should be something else, doing something else couldn't help but intrude on the fuzzy haven that Morgan had erected around herself.

Or her body had erected. She cursed as she inched around, hands scrabbling in the darkness, trying to find the others in her party. None of them should be here; they had all attended to watch Connor get punished for attacking her, hadn't they? Apart from the flashes of memory Morganna couldn't work out what had gone wrong, but she knew that they had been ambushed, and now were locked up in dark cellars, which were cold, and damp as well from the feel of the wall beneath her back.

Morganna backed up when her hand collided rather roughly with someone. They grunted, before a hand snaked out to grab her wrist, and she was pulled bodily towards the person. Her muscles, abused from earlier protested at this new onslaught, and soon she and whoever it was in the cellar with her were tumbling over the floor, until she lay dizzy beneath them.

"Morgan?" The angel dimly recognised the voice as Lucian's.

"It's me," she answered, feeling more than a little foolish.

"Get off her Jonathon."

"Sorry Morgan," a groggy Jonathon muttered rolling off Morgan.

"So who's here?" the angel enquired, "We have Lucian, me and Jonathon, any Michael and Selene?"

"I'm here," Michael replied, obviously from a corner, "But I don't know where they've taken Selene."

"She's a vampire. They wouldn't treat her the same as us. Plus they're probably planning on using her for leverage," Lucian's voice still sounded as authoritative as ever.

"Leverage for what?"

"Whatever it is, I'm not sure I want to find out," Morgan answered with a shiver.

"Well, what's the plan now then?" Jonathon lightly enquired.

"We wait, and when the chance presents itself we escape," Lucian explained.

"You make it all sound so easy. However, we are in a darkened room with no way of escape, with one member of our party separated. Also you make no mention of the fact that we'd have to fight our way out of a pack of werewolves, with me at a distinct disadvantage, with at least one werewolf out there who has a personal grudge against me," Morgan snapped almost sarcastically.

"When you put it like that, you make it sound so easy," Jonathon had caught onto her tone.

"Morgan, will you for once not be difficult and put your trust in me? I promise I'll find us a way out of here," Lucian growled in annoyance.

The angel crawled back to what she considered her patch of wall, and bit back the first retort which came to her mind, about the state that the group would be in when it left, in pine boxes or on their own feet. She was feeling slightly hysterical about the whole situation; she could almost imagine Connor coming in here and dragging her out, to do unspeakable things to her before he killed her. Well, that was at least if his tastes hadn't changed over the years since she had known him, the best she could hope for was a quick death, the worst one where she pleaded for it to be over.

Morgan almost screamed when she felt someone put her arm around her shoulder. She soon found out her mistake as Lucian very calmly explained that it was him, and no one else was about to jump out at her from the dark. Lucian drew her closer, and she rested her head against his shoulder, feeling a tiny bit of her tension drain from her. Things could never be so bad with Lucian at her side.

A pair of hands came sliding over the angel's feet after a while. Morganna almost screamed again, but it was only Jonathon. He was a werewolf, and for them touching could mean comfort more than anything else. Michael soon came and joined them too, and they formed a small group all huddled together. Morganna was finding it strangely comforting being surrounded by a veritable pile of males, all comforting her and each other, drawing strength.

"Rest now," Lucian commanded her.

Morgan didn't know how long she dosed in the darkness. Time didn't have any meaning here in the darkness. She flitted in and out of awareness, always with the three men around her, if not in exactly the same position as they were in before. Eventually Morgan was shaken awake by Lucian, to hear the sound of footsteps coming from some direction. She guessed there must be a door, or at least an entryway. With her nerves jangling this badly, she could barely manage to work out that they were footsteps.

Eventually a hatch opened in the ceiling, and Morgan almost giggled. She mentally slapped herself, behaving as if she was either hysterical or mentally unstable would not help the situation. In none of the movies she remembered seeing over the years had anyone ever thought to have a dungeon with an entrance from the ceiling. Obviously it would make the hero's escape difficult. And there was a historical parallel in the oubliettes of medieval castles, perhaps the writers didn't like the idea of throwing heroes down into pits from which their escape was probably not assured.

Not for the first time Morgan wondered what happened to her brain when she was under pressure. She tended to think of amusing situations, if not completely removed from the situation, at least sanitising it. She wondered if it was because she was becoming more human over the years since she'd been stuck here. In the beginning she'd had something of her warrior's poise and detachment, but lost that somewhere along the way.

Although her mind obviously would still detach her from the situation. Some small part of her was assessing it, taking stock and chances, even as the rest of her mind was giggling away and blubbering about medieval oubliettes. Morgan knew it, but thankfully it was her instincts that tended to kick in when she really needed them to, and generally guided her along the right path, even if it did take a while for them to kick in.

The trapdoor opened in the centre of the room, and suddenly there was light. It wasn't particularly bright, but bright enough to blind the angel, who had been getting used to the darkness. A ladder was lowered down, and a large contingent of lycans clambered down. The angel bit her lip, and wondered where the inane want to hum the tune from the great escape came from? Perhaps it was something to do with the fact that if they did escape in one piece it would be a miracle?

Seven burly lycans appeared, and slowly clambered down. As they each moved across two took each of the lycans, and only one appeared by Morgan's side. She was about to mention something about chauvinism, but decided from the look on her guard's face that discretion was probably the better part of valour here. However she couldn't quite help but protest at the fact she was soon hauled over her burly lycan guard's shoulder, since when had he become her lycan?

"Don't say a word," Lucian growled at Morgan, obviously sensing she was about to make some smart comment.

So, Morgan settled for muttering unflattering things about her guard in her head. Of course, the men got to walk up the stairs, and wherever they were being taken. They were chained, understandably, and with silver, which had little effect on Michael, although how were they to know that? No, poor little helpless Morganna was lifted as if she couldn't walk, and not in a particularly nice way. Nothing like the movies. Instead she felt like a sack of potatoes. If there was any doubt in how the groups stock had fallen, this was a factor, but perhaps not the largest in the grand scheme of things.

It seemed like they walked through concrete corridors for an age. Morgan almost wondered if it were a standard for most werewolf hideouts, underground caverns covered with concrete. These were completely different from the café and its attendant underground rooms that Morgan had lost all sense of where she was. She guessed that there was some connection; she didn't have any attendant bruises with being manhandled in and out of transport, although that didn't mean that she hadn't necessarily been.

Eventually they met a heavy steel door. The lead guard, who happened to have an angel slung across his shoulder, the brief worry that they might know flickered across her mind. Angels didn't have a very good track record with the other immortals, and for a moment Morgan almost worried why. Fallen angels weren't that much of a threat, they had no god to protect them, and besides, they had very limited powers, if indeed they managed to keep any of them beyond their fall.

A panel slides back in the door, and a pair of eyes assess the party, before the panel slides shut, and the heavy metal door opens with a slow grind. Being carried through Morganna quickly took an assessment of the door. It was very, very thick, which probably accounted for the heaviness, and the other burly lycan who opened the door. It seemed as if it could stop anyone who wanted to get in but was unwelcome. Strangely enough it looked like it worked the other way, keeping people in. Funny how those things worked. You kept the unsavoury people out, but what happens if the unsavoury people were locked in with you?

Morgan still wasn't dropped, but the guards all had come to a stop, obviously waiting. Morgan took time to take stock of her surroundings. The first thing that hit was the smell. It was something that was far too cloying and sweet. It seemed to suggest that it was covering something, although you couldn't quite catch what exactly the scent beneath it was. Morgan wondered for the first time how lycans could manage it.

Especially as she suddenly worked out why anyone would need such strong air freshener? Wrong word, it was more like a perfume or incense, but one which obviously covered up the fact that there were various bits of bodies scattered around the room, all in various states of decomposition. They all had a quality about them as well which made them look like that had definitely been… munched on.

Morgan suppressed a shudder. She couldn't work out if she would much rather smell the decomposing bodies. She didn't like it, but then surviving in the human world for eight hundred years, give or take, you tended to come across a few decomposing bodies. The smell often made her feel ill, but that she could deal with. Instead of this cloying perfume which was filling every inch of her with dread. She knew she should be able to smell something. But then, the scent was familiar, like something she had smelt a lifetime ago.

The décor clashed just as harshly with what seemed like the casual eating habits of the lycans. It was all heavy red and gold drapes, with matching furniture, which looked like it was just made for lolling on. It was downright sensual, that was what it was. It rang yet another note alongside the smell, she should be remembering, if only she hadn't been smacked around the back of the head. But warning bells were beginning to ring in her head. She knew being here was a very bad idea, and her instincts were telling her to run. You didn't survive being alive this long without having fully functioning instincts.

This was a bit disappointing, as there was no possible way she could run. But, spotting the ornate double doors, made out of carved wood, she was adamant that she did not want to go through them. Which was a shame, as it was these doors which were being hauled open from the inside, to reveal a very naked Ralph. Which again, rang yet more warning bells in Morganna's head. Wasn't she supposed to have worked this puzzle out before now?

Morganna got a quick glimpse at the doors as they passed. They were made out of a dark wood, and intricately carved. The carvings were all of naked bodies, both men and women, writhing together in various states of ecstasy, generally most of them sexual. That brought Morganna's senses into even sharper relief; she knew that this was something from her past, the one she'd forgotten.

The scene from within the room was one which was very strange to Morganna, and yet at the same time strangely familiar. Most of the people in the room, with the exception of the new arrivals, were all unclothed. Some, quite a lot of them actually, were writhing around acting out some of those positions that were on the door, which Morgan admitted, made her blush, even though very little was surprising to her anymore.

The rest were feasting on humans, who seemed so drugged that they were crying out in ecstasy rather than pain. Morgan noticed Connor, slowly munching on a human's intestines in fully human form, which was more the horror than the fact that this was an accountable part of werewolf behaviour. Once he finished he stood, completely naked, and made his way to a dais at the far side of the room.

There, seated on what Morganna would swear was a cross between a chaise long and a throne. She was blonde, buxom and utterly beautiful. And Connor walked up to her, knelt almost as if in supplication. After a few moments the woman raised him up, and they started a show which Morgan wasn't surprised to see. Yes, she recognised the woman now, although of all the places to see another fallen angel this wasn't her first choice.

As Morgan was dumped to her feet, obviously to watch the show, the heavy wooden doors thudded closed, and the guards went to join in with the impromptu feast. Thankfully Morgan managed to keep her face impassive as she watched the… well she wouldn't exactly call it making love, she admitted… fucking seemed to be the more appropriate word. As well as the feast, don't forget that. She was quite surprised at how impassive she was as right in front of her eyes a lycan reached into a human's chest cavity and ripped out his heart. He's strong… was Morganna's last coherent thought before the noises from the dais broke in on her reverie…


	19. Chapter 18

Note: I have to apologise for the cliff hanger of the last chapter, well not really. Seemed like a good place to break, before that chapter got too long. However, this is the next offering.

Hope and Love: Hopefully, considering the last chapter took me about two years to write this chapter will come out quicker! However, I am glad you enjoyed.

Chapter 18

Morgan had moved back to the rest of her group in the intermittent few minutes. The bodyguards around the other men had stayed, but hers had disappeared off to join the show, Morgan thought while rolling her eyes. She couldn't help but stand with her arms crossed as she watched the spectacle on the bed. For all the gods' sakes, how long did it really take? She bit the inside of her cheek as she thought that Connor had never lasted that long when in bed for her. But then again, he had been one of those mistakes she had chalked up to the past.

Apart from the fact that it had come back to bite her. Not literally, at least not yet. Recently though, her so called mistakes, such as leaving Lucian behind had come back to bite her. And got her into situations where she really would not have anticipated being, much less wanted. In actual fact that first mistake had not even resolved itself, and here it was bleeding into another problem.

Morganna forced herself back into the present. Well, at least for a few seconds before the sweating heaving bodies almost made her want to gag. _She used to be the angel of a fertility goddess_; Morgan thought to herself, _I wonder how many times she can get him back up. _

Of course it was all a display. It generally was with the other angels, at least at first. When you found somewhere you thought you could belong, somewhere you could fit in. That veneer got stripped away eventually, and you either ran or died. It was that simple, and looking at the other angel Morganna winced at the shiny newness, _not been out on her own very long at all. A couple of years at the very most. And oh, hasn't she got a long way to fall, setting herself up like a goddess._

Morgan couldn't help it, she was jealous. She always had been somewhere deep inside her. She was the shortest angel she had ever heard for in a long time. In the grand scheme of things she was perhaps the most unremarkable female angel in the entire world. Apart from her eyes. Everyone had always complimented her on her eyes. Oh yes, and the fact she was a warrior rather than a server of her god. That tended to bridle with most men, her being the stronger one in the relationship.

She'd tried to change after her god had passed, she really had. And this angel in front of her had laughed in front of her face, as they had made up what trumped to a treason charge. And the gods and goddesses hadn't cared that it wasn't true. So down she went, to live among the blood and filth that was the mortal world. She guessed that they'd doubted that she would survive this long, but she'd had the tenacity to survive.

The woman let out a strangled scream which when Morganna looked over said yes, she was very satisfied. Connor followed a few seconds later with a grunt which Morganna remembered all too well. And suddenly she found it all incredibly funny. Well, she'd been running from her past, and now look it had all blended into one rather large mess, which resulted in her watching this show. It was supposed to be erotic, she guessed, but instead it was just too damn funny for words.

Morgan was aware suddenly that she was laughing hysterically, that she had actually sunk to the floor with the force of the laughter that was shaking every inch of her frame. She was aware of all the lycans around her, growling, but unsure what to do. They all looked to the woman on the bed, who was looking surprised that someone would appear at one of her orgies who would find the whole situation laughable.

"Who are they?" the woman enquired. Morgan knew she had worried the other angel, when the blonde shrugged into a robe.

"She's the one I told you about today," Connor answered the tone bitter.

"I don't think you should allow him to be the one to speak for me, he's rather biased," Morgan answered back.

"Morgan, what the hell are you doing?" Lucian almost hissed at her.

"Trust me on this one. You're way out of your depth here."

"So are you."

"Tell you what, you deal with the lycan problem, and I'll deal with the angel problem."

"Angel problem?"

However, Morgan ignored Lucian and turned around to see a very irate Connor stand a few feet away from her. The angel ignored the urge to flinch away, Connor wasn't the problem here. Instead Morgan walked confidently up to the dais, aware now that everyone had gone very, very quiet, and everyone was watching her. Eventually she reached the dais, and stood looking down at her own counterpart, with something like pity in her eyes.

"Who is she?" the angel on the chair demanded querulously.

"Oh, I'm no one," Morgan answered mysteriously, "No one you thought to trouble yourself about obviously with your little display."

"My lady, shall I stop her?" Connor demanded, stepping forward.

"No Connor, I want to hear what she has to say," the angel answered, "You're not a werewolf are you."

"How clever you all are, working out I'm not a werewolf. I obviously don't smell like one, so I wonder what do I smell like." Morgan enquired, shaking her head forward, aware she was showing off her neck.

Inside, the part of her that hadn't been subdued by her instincts were screaming at her. She was about to try and out-flirt, and out-pretty and even, damn it, out-allure an angel who once served a fertility goddess. There must be some rational part of her screaming. However, angels had always been beautiful, any race which encountered them thought so. So what if she wasn't a bronze goddess, perhaps she could use her midnight colouring to no better effect, although hopefully manage to pull off mysterious better. People tended not to pull off mysterious well when they looked like a bronzed beach goddess.

Morgan turned, and laughed, sensing that every eye in the room was on her. Connor had taken an involuntary step forward, and his fists were now clenched tightly, his jaw straining as he fought his natural impulses to walk forward to smell.

For the first time Morgan felt a faint stirring of power, of her power ruffle her skin. No angel had much after any length of time, let alone eight hundred years. However, there was obviously enough left for Morgan to make her voice a suggestion. She was feeding on the angel's power in front of her, so much more powerful than hers after such a short exile. This was why she had been feared as Lailah, this draining of power, making it her own. And at this moment she could make it appear that she was the most alluring thing in this room, not her opponent, and she would be.

"You're not human or a vampire either," the other angel on the dais choked out, "What are you?"

"How long did you think it would last, this deception?" Morganna lightly enquired, "Did you set yourself up as a fertility goddess to them?"

"I am their goddess!"

"No you're not, a poor imitation at best. Perhaps you could have brought your goddess' power down at one time, but not now. Your powers are dwindling, aren't they? So you try to bring forth pups into this world, hence the macabre rituals. The beast and the angel uniting."

"How do you know what I am?"

"If they don't believe that you're a goddess, perhaps they think that you're bringing her power down. But they don't know do they that you don't bring down her power. Angels wouldn't stay here if they don't have a choice, especially you."

"How do you know? Who are you?"

Morganna felt a slight twinge of satisfaction in seeing the blonde angel begin to break down in front of her. It gave her a jealous twinge of satisfaction, to see this angel, Sarafiel, the name came to her, break down in front of her. The pack around her had begun to step forward towards the scene, all of them, and the guards had slipped their attention from the party, allowing Michael to slip out, unseen. Morgan knew she had to keep the show up, and she was running out of options. That was until the angel looked up and a look of horrified recognition crashed across her face.

"Lailah," Sarafiel almost whispered the word reverentially.

For a moment Morgan was aware of the word hanging in the very air, as if dark, hidden things were waiting, and had drawn in a breath. Suddenly the power rushed back across her skin, something had heard. The angel was shoved violently out of her body, and saw a woman standing far away, listening, and smiled as she heard the name. Smiling she turned and looked as if she saw Morgan, and had bright, feral green eyes.

"Who have you called?" Morgan demanded suddenly, pitching forward, "Sarafiel, I order you, tell me who you called."

"I called no one, no one!" the blonde protested, shaking her head violently, "They watch over all of us now. All of us they cast out."

"Who are they? And why did they cast you out?"

"You know, they gave birth to us all. They cast us out because you were supposed to be her vessel. Without you, it took her generations to grow herself a body. We were cast out when they finally arrived, all three of them?"

"Three? All three, our mother, our father, and who?"

"He wore a robe, I know no more than that. But they want you for something."

"I can imagine. When did they cast you out."

"I think a year ago. I was sent to search for you, along with others. But we couldn't find you."

"So you did what came naturally to you I suppose?"

"Orgies are a natural part of angel life? I knew I missed out," Jonathon's comment cut across the silence.

"Shut up, Jonathon. So they're looking for me. And they cast out everyone who helped, yes?"

"Yes, yes they did. They said we were never to return," Sarafiel almost wailed.

"We're leaving now, Lucian. Hang America, this was never a good idea, we're going to England, and now."

"What made you think you could leave?" Ralph enquired, lightly stepping in front of the exit, "With the power of one angel we were strong enough, but two?"

"You do not want me here. The people Sarafiel mentioned are looking for me. They're going to come here now, soon, and nothing you could do would stop them," Morgan snapped.

"You think to scare me?"

"Warn you more like. You think Sarafiel has power after a year, it will wilt. But not the people who are coming for me. They're the mother and father of our race, they cannot be cast out, and will come in all of their power. They will rip through here like a knife tearing cloth."

"I think you should listen to the lady Morganna," a familiar, but not unwelcome voice added, "Although you do tend to labour the point somewhat Morgan dear, do you have to be so dramatic?"

Morgan was torn between feeling exasperation and elation. She turned to face the man who had come in. As expected for him, he had Michael and Selene trailing behind. The tall athletic man, with straight dark hair, and warm blue eyes, in an immaculate suit, also had a glass of brandy in one hand, and the lycan guard from the door in the other one. Ralph backed away, his lips pulled back into a snarl.

"You know how powerful I am, wolf, and you would be a fool not to let me walk out of here," the gentleman almost declared with a sneer.

"Vincent, how did you manage to get here?" Morganna enquired disbelievingly.

"You do realise I have a private jet dear, don't you?"

"Alright then, how did you find me?"

"Ah, an explanation which is best left for later, do you not think? Especially as this is, how would you term it…? A rescue, yes I do believe that I'm playing the part of a veritable knight in shining armour, come to rescue the fair damsel in distress, and her party. Now, milady, my white horse awaits."

Morganna almost managed not to smile as she swept down the stairs to take the proffered arm that Vincent held out. This arm had been freed by tossing the lycan at foot of his alpha, who stood trembling in impotent rage. The effect was only spoiled a little by the fact that the Ulfric was still naked.

"Lucian, shall we?" Morgan enquired lightly, turning to face her companion.

Lucian seemed about to protest, but something in Morgan's manner made him grudgingly accept. He stepped forward, and the small group all fell into some sort of rough order as they swept out into the other room. Morgan goggled when she saw that the metal doors had been torn off their hinges. She had forgotten just how strong Vincent was.

"Vincent, I do believe you've left behind a terrible mess," Morganna clucked her tongue.

"Morgan, they simply didn't answer when I knocked. Some people have no ideas of manners these days. What shall we do with your other companion?"

"Sarafiel? Let her wait for those she's called to come."

"My dear Morgan, you are a vindictive Lady after my own heart. Let others deal with the problems they've called down on themselves, eh?"

And the last sounds heard by Ralph and his pack were the sobs of Sarafiel, and the light tinkling laughter of Morgan.

Author's note: And I would like to introduce my readers to Vincent. More of him to come in later chapters. As always, I hope you enjoyed, and reviews are always appreciated.


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